


A Life Amongst Wolves

by DayDreamer315



Series: Plot Bunnies [6]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Albus Dumbledore Bashing, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Bashing, Ginny Weasley Bashing, Harry Potter was Raised by Other(s), Hermione Granger Bashing, Hufflepuff Harry Potter, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Molly Weasley Bashing, Neville Longbottom is a Good Friend, Ron Weasley Bashing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:54:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 32,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25664701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DayDreamer315/pseuds/DayDreamer315
Summary: A camping trip gone wrong causes a young Harry Potter to cross paths with Fenrir Greyback. Greyback chooses to adopt the small abused boy and raise him amongst the pack. By the time Hogwarts starts no one will recognize the child Harry Potter has grown up to be.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Fred Weasley/George Weasley, Sirius Black/Fenrir Greyback/Remus Lupin
Series: Plot Bunnies [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1532360
Comments: 67
Kudos: 1163





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> *PLEASE READ*
> 
> Anyone who has read anything I've written before will notice this is not my usual style. I randomly started playing Hogwarts Mystery after a year of not bothering just in time to start the Werewolves at Hogwarts quest and somehow that inspired this. (Don't ask me to explain how my mind works cause I have no idea either)
> 
> I basically wrote this in about 48 hours and have been trying to turn it into a proper story for the last week. This is really just a more wordy and in-depth outline of what I thought of. I'm going to add more detailed scenes as I write them.

Life with the Dursley family was a hard life. In particular, 6 year old Harry Potter knew that it was going to be a particularly rough weekend for him.

It had all started when one of Dudley’s friends had seen a movie about a family going camping and had then convinced his parents to take him camping. Dudley had been beyond jealous when the family had returned and his friend had bragged to all the boys in the neighbourhood about just how amazing it was. Dudley had arrived home that day and demanded they go camping too.

At first Petunia and Vernon had denied him, for once, as they hadn’t liked the idea of leaving their comfortable home to spend time in disgusting nature. But that hadn’t lasted long as they couldn’t bring themselves to deny their darling Duddykins.

And that was why just a week after Harry’s sixth birthday Harry had been forced to set up the luxury camper Vernon had rented. The entire trip into the woods had had Harry on edge as the car had made really weird noises the entire time and Harry had been blamed for it. In turn, Harry blamed the fact that the family car was pulling a luxury camper that was way to large for it in his opinion.

After the camper was arranged to Petunia’s exacting specifications, something that had resulted in Harry getting hit multiple times and yelled at nearly constantly, Harry was sent out to gather water and wood for a fire. Since Vernon was too cheap to pay the rent for a fully equipped camp sight, and they hadn’t been able to find one since they hadn’t pre-booked, there was no water or gas hookups for the trailer. That meant the fancy gas powered stove, dessert oven, and large shower were nothing but decorative add-ons, so Harry had to make up for the Dursley’s lack of planning.

It was well after midnight when Harry suddenly woke. He didn’t know what it was that woke him for a moment as he stared up at the stars and full moon that lit up the clear night sky. After he had finished all the work he had been assigned that evening, including cooking a meal he didn’t get to eat, Aunt Petunia had thrown him a ripped tarp and told him he was sleeping outside. He was just grateful it was summer and there had been no rain so both he and the ground were dry.

Then he realized what it was that had woken him. He was being watched. Looking around he quickly spotted the glowing amber eyes of a large animal. Seeing that it had been noticed it stepped forward into the open moonlight. Harry froze for a second as he looked at a gigantic black wolf.

Moving as slowly and quickly as he could Harry made his way over to the front door of the camper, never taking his eyes off the wolf as he did so. He started knocking rapidly.

It took a few minutes but Harry heard the furious growl of his uncle as he heaved himself up causing the entire camper to sway. “What do you think you are doing you little freak?” Vernon demanded as he threw the door open, intentionally slamming it into the small child causing him to fall off the stairs.

Harry had the wind knocked out of him as he landed and was unable to answer so instead just tried pointing to the wolf, hoping his Uncle would understand and let him in the camper with everyone else. But Vernon didn’t even glance in the direction Harry was pointing and instead just advanced menacingly towards Harry causing him to try and shuffle backward. Vernon backed Harry into a tree before reaching to grab him and hauling him up to his feet before back handing him causing him to fall again. When Vernon reached out to grab a dazed Harry he was stopped by the teeth of a snarling wolf digging into his arm.

Harry heard the crunch of the bone even as Vernon screamed in enraged pain. The wolf momentarily released Vernon and threw its head back to release an echoing howl before returning its attention to the man who was trying to back away from it. As Vernon was herded further and further away from the camper Petunia came storming out, not noticing the wolf that blended in with the shadows so well.

“What have you done now you disgusting freak?” Petunia demanded in anger as she sleepily trudged toward the boy who was still on the ground, not noticing the blood on the ground or paying any attention to the blood flowing down the side of her nephews head.

Vernon was in so much pain as he was unable to form the words to warn his wife. Not that he had even noticed she was in danger herself as he was to focused on his own life to worry about hers.

Unfortunately for the furious Petunia the wolf stalking her husband was not a lone wolf, but was instead part of a pack, and the others arrived. It was a relatively small part of the larger pack that answered the call, but 3 wolves against one skinny horse faced woman that didn’t even notice their approach was more than enough.

Harry just stared past his aunt at the new wolves. The one in the middle was easily twice the size of the other wolves and seemed far larger than was natural even to Harry who knew next to nothing about wolves. When Petunia drew back her leg to kick Harry the large wolf released a vicious snarl causing Petunia to shriek and spin around. If it weren't for, well, everything, Harry would have found it funny how the adult woman quickly scurried behind Harry to hide herself. But to Harry it wasn't funny at that moment as she forced the still dizzy boy to his feet and then shoved him towards the growling wolves.

Harry just closed his eyes and walked forward, ready for all the pain to end. But an end never came. The wolves moved out of his way and allowed him to pass without issue before advancing on Petunia and herding her direction Vernon had gone. Harry went towards the open door of the camper only to see a sleepy Dudley appear just long enough to slam the door, Harry hearing as the lock clicked into place. Instead he just went to try and find a comfortable area and forget about what was happening just beyond the trees.

As he was trying to get comfortable the smallest of the four wolves he had seen that night reappeared and moved towards him. Harry stayed as still as possible, so far none of the wolves hurt him, if anything it was like they were protecting him, but he still didn’t want to risk it. Instead of attacking him the wolf sniffed him a bit before curling up next to him and resting.

Dudley, who had been watching through the blinds tried opening the door so he could play with the wolf but when the wolf let out a menacing growl in his direction he let out an ‘eep’ and slammed the door once again.

As dawn broke the next morning four people woke. Each pulled a wand and clothes from the magical pouches that hung on leather straps around their necks. Once dressed and a small breakfast was started they looked at the small boy that had slept surrounded by them all the night before.

“Leticia.” The largest of the men turned to a pale woman with jet black hair and dark brown eyes. “I think you should start in explaining what happened last night.”

“Yes alpha.” The woman nodded in deference. “I don’t know exactly what lured me here, I just knew I needed to be here. Then when I saw that giant oaf hurt him… I just couldn’t help myself… I needed to protect that boy.” The woman looked to the sleeping child, the entire side of his face was bruised, but the bruise already showed signs of healing.

“We do not involve ourselves in the matters of humans, you know that.” The large man scolded.

“I…” The younger of the two women started to speak but hesitated before plowing forward. “I think there’s something special about him. When I came back to wait with him while you played with the adults I could feel my inner wolf calm just being around him. I’ve only ever felt that calm around pack members.”

The large man narrowed his eyes slightly before moving towards the boy. But the instant he came near the boy was suddenly awake and staring at them all with fearful green eyes. The large man reached out but the boy backed away.

Harry squinted his eyes for a moment at these strangers before he felt like he recognized them. “I know you, you're the wolves.” Harry suddenly flinched back, he had said something bad. There was no way those people could have been the wolves, wolves couldn’t become people, magic wasn't real, Harry knew that. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that… I didn’t…”

“Hush little one.” The younger woman tried to soothe but kept her distance, not wanting to startle the little one anymore. “Yes, we were the wolves.”

“That’s not possible.” Harry said in confusion. “The only way for that to happen would be… would be…” Harry couldn’t bring himself to say the word, not after what had happened the last time.

“Magic.” The smaller of the two men barked out in frustration.

Harry dropped to the ground and covered his head like he was expecting a beating. The larger man got a knowing look in his eye.

“Your parents don’t like magic, do they.” He said as he moved slightly closer.

“My parents?” Harry unwound just enough to look up and tilt his head in confusion. “My parents are dead. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon said they died in a car accident cause they didn’t want to have to put up with a freak like me anymore.”

“I really wish we’d taken a bit more time with them.” Leticia said. “So, kid, who’s the tubby thing in the camper?”

“My Cousin Dudley.” Harry said matter of factly as he slowly started to relax out of his little huddle, but he didn’t relax fully, you never knew when the next beating was going to come.

“Kid, I want you to stay still for a moment.” The large man said as he crouched down in front of the boy. “I promise, I’m not going to hurt you.”

The other three watched as their alpha managed to get hold of the skinny kid and draw him close enough to take a good deep breath of the air around him. They couldn’t see his reaction because he was facing away, but they felt the sudden spike of excitement. When their alpha drew back he ruffled the kids hair before flattening it over his forehead.

“Ok kid, I want you to go over there and eat some breakfast.” The man indicated where the food was. After a shift their stomachs couldn’t handle much so it was only simple non-spiced sausages, but it was better than nothing.

“But I haven’t done anything to deserve food.” Harry said in confusion. “Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon always say freaks like me have to earn food since we’re not good like Dudley. I’m supposed to cook, do the dishes, lay out Dudley’s clothes for the day and tidy his room before I can have the toast crusts.”

All four adults ground their teeth, really wishing the humans had suffered more than they had the night before.

“Kid, while you're with us, not only are you allowed to eat at every meal time, you are required to.” The big man said in his attempt at a soothing voice that just really didn’t work. “Now, get your little butt over there and eat. I want you to eat at least two sausages. We need to have a little chat amongst the adults for a few moments, but then we’ll come eat with you.”

Harry nodded in stunned surprise. He was getting to eat first, that never happened.

“Alpha?” The younger woman questioned. “What did you smell?”

“The reason we all felt the urge to protect him.” The alpha said with repressed excitement in his voice. “He is scent marked as a cub. It’s very faint, most likely years old, it will probably be gone in less than a year, but it’s still there.”

“What wolf would allow their cub to be taken from them?” The younger woman asked in horror. “And how do you know the scent?”

“One that wasn't given a choice.” The alpha said in answer to the first question. “It was over 2 decades ago I turned a young boy. But before the moon and pack could fully claim him his human parents took him and fled. I kept track of him as best as I could during his childhood but could never get him away from them. They taught him to hate himself and to be ashamed of what he was. His father even went so far as to try different experimental ‘cures’ on him that almost killed him.

But he was able to attend Hogwarts to escape them. While he was there he found a close approximation of a pack in his friends. After graduating one of his friends married and had a son, that boy right there. I can only assume he marked the boy by instinct since he was never taught any of our ways.”

“But how did he end up here with abusive muggles?” Leticia questioned.

“We were on opposite sides of the war.” The alpha sighed. “Our pack sided with the dark in the hopes they would help us get rid of the restrictions on our kind, he sided with the light as the dark posed a threat to his chosen pack. At the end of the war two of his pack members and one of their wives were killed, orphaning the packs cub. I can only assume the light decided it was to dangerous for a werewolf to be around the cub and took him away from him.

I’ve heard of him in recent years, those who have seen him say it looks like he has been searching for someone in every magical community he can. I assume he is trying to find where the light fools put his cub. And now that we have him, we can guide him home.”

“You seem rather interested in this one wolf?” The second man said in slight worry. He was the alpha’s second and didn’t want to lose his position.

The alpha understood his seconds worry, but let out a warning growl since he wouldn’t allow him to get away with questioning him. “Of course I am. I would very much like to fix all the damage the light has done to my mate. Plus protecting the cub could serve to greatly help us in future.”

“How can the cub help us?” The second asked, showing submission when he was growled at for both questioning the alpha and the cubs usefulness. “I mean, he is a child. And given the condition he’s in no one in the magical world cares about him other than your mate.”

“That is where you are wrong, everyone cares in some form or another, some love him while others hate him. That, is Harry Potter.” The alpha announced to the gasps of his pack mates.

“Are… Are you sure?” The younger of the two women questioned. “Surely they would better care for their supposed saviour.”

“He has the scar.” The alpha said. “It’s him. And if we have him on our side… The amount of power that boy will have when he grows up can benefit us. Our pack sided with the dark to survive, now we will protect the saviour of the light for the same reason. We are survivors, always have been, always will be.

But we will need to clean this up. It can not look like a werewolf attack to the humans. No one can know we have him.”

The other three all agreed before going to join the young boy for a bit of food and to make their plans.

* * *

The plan to get Harry away was both incredibly complex while also being simple. The campsite was magically cleaned and Vernon and Petunia’s bodies were repaired and placed in the camper. Dudley was easily handled with a few memory charms and compulsions, it made the spoiled child much more agreeable.

They waited three days to allow the magic to settle so if any aurors got involved they wouldn’t be able to detect any magical signatures before they dropped Dudley off at a nearby fire station. Since Dudley was a muggle they had no need to worry about anyone using legilimency or truth potions, since they weren’t safe for muggles, so they used memory charms, the muggle safe versions, to change the boys memories and enchanted him to spin the tale they selected.

The police were called in to question him and Dudley did exactly as he was spelled to. He told them his dad had taken them camping. But when they arrived his dad had given him some treats and something yucky to drink and Dudley had fallen asleep in the car. He was woken hours later by his cousin who was bleeding from a cut on his head. His cousin had dragged him from the car and told him they needed to go. Dudley, his mind still muddled from sleep just followed. The two walked for hours until they came upon another camp. Dudley didn’t know the people, but from his description the police believed them to be gypsies. The gypsies took them in and gave them food and water while tending to Harry’s injuries. After plenty of conversations about how his cousin had been treated the gypsies asked the two of them what they wanted, Dudley wanted to go home, while Harry wanted to stay with the gypsies.

The police investigated what had happened that resulted in Harry being injured and the disappearance of Dudley’s parents. They managed to eventually find the campsite from Dudley’s memory of a few landmarks, it took a while since Dudley hadn't been paying attention to where they had been going, but they found it in the end.

In the camper they found the bodies of Vernon and Petunia Dursley. Using the evidence they found they developed their theory of what happened.

They believed that after arriving at the campsite Vernon gave Dudley some cough syrup to put him to sleep and left him in the car in some misguided attempt at mercy. After that he returned to the trailer where he used a hand gun to shoot his wife in the head where she sat at the table. His nephew tried to run but was cornered in one of the bedrooms and shot. Once that was done Vernon sat down across from his wife and put the gun to his own head.

But Harry hadn’t died. There was a pool of blood in the bedroom, but they figured the bullet must have only grazed the childs head knocking him out. Everyone knew head wounds bleed a lot so they figured Vernon must have just assumed Harry was dead. Harry woke up later, and seeing the bodies of his aunt and uncle had run to find his cousin and get them away from what the injured child most likely perceived as danger.

The police sent Dudley to his aunt and filed a missing persons report on Harry, but that was really the most they could do. They didn’t even have a picture of what Harry looked like since the Dursley’s had never taken one or let him get his photo taken at school. A few officers secretly believed the kid was better off with the gypsies, especially after speaking with Marge Dursley and looking at the house. It was obvious from the investigation they did on the family to close the case they were abusing the boy and they figured he was safer away from those like the Dursleys.

With that done the case file and pictures were left to gather dust in an old evidence locker.

Harry Potter quickly settled into his new life. For him, it was amazing.

The pack tended to travel a fair amount so Harry got to see a great deal. There were even a few other kids in the pack, although all four of them were a few years older than he was, but he wasn't lonely. All the kids were registered for homeschooling so they had daily lessons, but they were nothing like the ones Harry had had in Surry. The pack treated life as a learning experience and incorporated his lessons into day to day activities most of the time so he was rarely just sitting at a desk doing work.

Life had become even better when a few weeks after arriving in the pack the alpha who was later introduced to him as Fenrir Greyback went out one afternoon and returned with a man named Remus Lupin. At first Remus had been really angry at Fenrir, but once he had seen that Harry was alright and safe he allowed Fenrir, with Harry’s assistance, to explain what had happened.

Remus was furious to learn about the abuse his cub had been subjected to and had agreed to stay with the pack so he could learn more about his werewolf side and keep his cub safe. Harry figured it was just a simple agreement, but it had actually involved days of negotiations between Remus and Fenrir to come to the agreement. Fenrir, knowing how skittish his mate could be, made sure to at no time mention their mate status since he knew Remus knew nothing about things like that since he had never been taught.

Harry loved spending time with Remus as he got to know him. Harry hadn’t even known his parents names before, but Remus had plenty of pictures and was always willing to tell him anything he wanted to know about them.

It was a simple life with the pack, but it was a good one.

* * *

As Harry’s life was changing for the better, the life of Albus Dumbledore carried on the same as it had been for the past few years.

Arabella Figg, whom Dumbledore used to spy on his greatest weapon, sent him letters twice a year. At first it had been more than that but he just couldn’t stand all the cat filled nonsense so he had her cut back to only two letters a year and just the basic information about Harry was to be included. One letter was to be sent on Harry’s birthday each year, and the other on the first of each new year.

Unfortunately for Albus, he wouldn’t learn of the boys disappearance until it was far too late. Since the camping trip occurred just after Harry’s birthday he had already received a letter stating everything was just as he planned.

When the police arrived at Privet Drive to finish up their investigation about the Dursleys Arabella had tried to inform Albus, but it hadn’t worked out. A perfectly timed or miss timed gust of wind, depending on ones viewpoint, resulted in the letter Arabella sent to be blown off the desk and come to rest underneath a cabinet where it would go unnoticed until much later.

And then came the letter on the first of the year. Albus had left it sitting on his desk to read after he enjoyed a festive lunch. Unfortunately for him Fawkes had been nearing his burning day and ended up bursting into flames right there on his desk. The elves of the castle were quick to respond to the phoenixes burn and put out the fires around the desk, but no one noticed that there was a little extra ash in the egg pile from the letter that had been directly under him at the moment of burning.

After returning to his office Albus was too busy with working around the new chick to pay much attention to the missing letter. It wasn't until days later he would remember it at all. But Albus never really paid that much attention to the details in the letters, only glossing over them to ensure things were going his way. He remembered receiving the letter but couldn’t remember the details in it, he just assumed it was the same as all the others and carried on, secure in the belief that things would work out for him since he was Albus Dumbledore. 

* * *

It was just two months before Harry’s seventh birthday when it was decided things needed to change.

The pack wasn't actually just one large group, it was an entire network of groups that all worked together for the betterment of them all. Included in the groups were all manner of different creatures including werewolves, drakens, nagas, silkies, vampires, elves, a few veela, dwarves, a small goblin clan, and even a few regular magical humans. They even had a peace agreement with the countries centaurs although they were not counted amongst the packs.

It was one of the regular magicals that caused things to change. The Harper family was amongst the lesser Noble Families that sat in the Wizengamot. Gilbert Harper was the current Lord and was a perfectly average wizard in every way. The reason he was associated with the pack was because his son was a werewolf and his daughter was married to a vampire. He was their inside source to what was going on in the wizards government.

That day he had arrived with bad news for the werewolves. The wizengamot was debating passing a law that would require all wolves to register their name and address so they could be tracked. Everyone in the pack knew it would put them all in danger if they were forced to register, the Ministry had conducted purges in the past and they couldn’t stand the idea of their locations being known, especially for the sake of the cubs.

But there was a way to keep the law from passing, but it would require Harry. At the end of the last war Albus Dumbledore had gotten himself assigned magical guardian of Harry and proxy for the Potter Seats on the Wizengamot. Of the three factions within the Wizengamot the Light held the majority, but they were only 2 votes ahead of the Neutrals. If they could remove the Potter seats from Dumbledore’s control the Neutrals would have the majority and all the Neutrals along with a few of the Dark were already against the law so it would fail when put to a vote.

And Gilbert knew how to remove the power from Albus, let people know he lost Harry. He only held the proxies so long as he was in charge of Harry, without Harry he would be stripped of the proxies and they would go dormant until Harry was located. There was nothing to link the pack to Harry’s disappearance so there would be no way to track him down, the wards the pack used to protect themselves served to ensure none of them could be tracked by any spell or enchantment.

After a great deal of debate Remus and Fenrir put the problem to Harry. Harry chose to allow his disappearance to be made public.

Their plan worked even better than they could have hoped. Information was sent to the auror department about a muggle case that involved Harry Potter. They had gone to investigate and were told the tragic story by the detectives who had investigated. The aurors had been stunned to learn Harry Potter had been left with an abusive family and that he had disappeared almost a year before.

The aurors filed their reports with the ministry and Albus was called to account for both his actions and lack thereof. Albus had been well on his way to forcing the Ministry to keep everything quiet saying it would cause the population to turn on muggles and lower the peoples morale when they were stopped by the arrival of a Special Edition of the Daily Prophet.

Unfortunately for Albus, Rita Skeeter had seen a team of aurors leaving and heard the name of Harry Potter so had secretly tagged along. The story had all of her dramatics, but actually stuck more to the truth then most things she wrote.

The public was outraged by what had happened to their precious Boy-Who-Lived. When word got out that the wills of James and Lily Potter had been sealed by the Ministry, at the recommendation of Albus Dumbledore, and that the Ministry never bothered to keep track of him people started calling for blood. Many inquiries were held.

Albus was ultimately stripped of both his position of magical guardian as well as proxy for the Potter seats, stopping the werewolf registration from being passed as planned, along with any other seats held by Harry Potter. Everyone was slightly startled to learn that Harry had been willed another half dozen seats as well as had the Black seats, all of which Albus had been using. It was decided that until Harry was located those seats would be held in dormancy. Albus was further stripped of the ability to hold magical guardianship of any child ever again. But that was the end of his punishment as he had weaselled his way out of anything else and used his fame and kind old grandfather image to get people to forgive him. It wasn't much, but his reputation and power base had taken a serious hit.

It was the Ministry that took the brunt of peoples anger. Millicent Bagnold was ultimately forced to resign over the Ministries handling of Harry Potter. She had been the one to sign off on sealing the wills of the Potters. The major problem for her was that at the recommendation of Albus Dumbledore she had used the Ministers Seal on the wills and made it so they couldn’t be unsealed for 16 years. It had been Albus’s way to ensure no one could claim control of Harry or remove him from where Albus had left him. The wills could only be read months after Harry turned 17.

Along with the sealed wills the Ministry never bothered to keep track of Harry. There was an entire department in the Ministry that was tasked with monitoring war orphans and ensuring they were cared for but they hadn’t been doing their job, and not just in regards to Harry, despite the fact they received a great deal of financial support. The inquiry found that many of the upper level Ministry members were using the war orphans department as a slush fund since they knew no one would vote against giving that particular department more money. More than a few heads of department were forced into retirement to save themselves the humiliation and potential jail time involved in a public corruption trial.

* * *

As the inquiry was drawing to an end rumours started going around that Harry was dead. The only thing that stopped a full scale riot was Gringotts announcing that Harry Potter was still alive.

Many demands were made to the bank to know where he was since they assumed it meant they had seen him. Albus and the Ministry even tried to create a new law that would require the bank to give them any and all information they had on any and all bank customers, it failed when the goblins threatened all out war if it passed, but they did give some basic information to keep the public from attacking them without compromising their privacy policies.

They announced that bank vaults were tied to both blood and magic. If the owner of the vault died the vaults would immediately seal until the estate was settled. The vaults of James and Lily Potter were sealed, and would remain that way until the ministry allowed their wills to be read but the trust vault set up for Harry Potter was not. Since the trust vault was tied to Harry if he had died it would have sealed like his parents.

That helped to settle the public slightly, but that calm didn’t last long.

The reports of Harry’s disappearance and possible death spread all over, including to the guards of Azkaban. Hearing the stories was enough to shake Sirius Black out of his despondent state.

As a result of the godfather bond that existed between Sirius and Harry he knew his godson was still alive. It took him a few weeks, but Sirius managed to escape.

First the loss of the Boy-Who-Lived and then the escape of a man everyone thought was a mass murderer from a supposedly escape proof prison caused chaos in the magical world.

* * *

Sirius followed his connection to his godson all the way to the werewolf pack. The connection was fuzzy due to the packs wards, but the bond was strong ancient magic that couldn’t be blocked by the newer magics. At first he was terrified something had happened, but then he saw Remus was there and figured that was why they were hiding with the wolves.

After a few days of observing Sirius allowed himself to be caught and brought into the camp. Remus had initially wanted to tear Sirius apart but Sirius managed to get him and Fenrir to listen to him. He explained about the switch he and Peter had made and how it had been Peter who killed those people during his escape and how he never even got a trial.

The two wolves were naturally defensive, especially since this issue involved the boy they had both claimed as their cub, but they believed Sirius. Werewolves could smell lies so they knew Sirius was being honest, and as an extra precaution they made Sirius take an oath of honesty along with taking a truth potion just to be triply sure Sirius was not a threat to Harry.

It took almost a week, but eventually Sirius was finally introduced to his godson. Harry was thrilled to have another person in his life that knew his parents. After years of abuse and neglect Harry had been left touch starved and craving any kind of positive attention, luckily the pack was generally extremely tactile and always made sure he was in the middle of any puppy pile. Sirius was just another person for him to cuddle up with when he was in a mood.

Fenrir was just as happy as Harry to have Sirius there, but for an entirely different reason. When alpha wolves mated there were always 2 mates, one who was of a more dominant nature that could take over in the absence of the alpha and a more submissive mate that would be tasked to care for the cubs. Remus was the more dominant of his mates, and it would seem Sirius Black was the submissive mate. It would explain why Remus hadn’t been overly effected by the bond between himself and Fenrir, he had grown used to it by being around his submissive mate for so long.

Fenrir set out to seduce both of his mates. Thankfully Harry was always willing to offer his help in anything he needed as the young boy supported their relationship long before the other two even realized they were in one.

* * *

For the most part Harry’s life settled into an amazing one. He was surrounded by people that loved him and were always willing to help him.

The closest members of his family were Remus, Sirius, Fenrir, and Fenrir’s second in command Malachi and his wife/mate Ava. It had taken almost a year after the arrival of Sirius for Fenrir’s plan of seduction to prove effective, but it did. Within a few months of Sirius and Remus finally realizing they were being courted they bonded. Malachi had at first been worried he would lose his position to Remus, but that worry had been for not.

Remus preferred to focus more on education than pack enforcement and politics. He expanded the schooling the children got and brought in the other packs in a more meaningful way. Who better to teach about finances and math than goblins. If you need to know about history why wouldn’t you go to vampires that were hundreds of years old and had lived through much of it. Herbology was covered by the forest elves who knew more about plants than any other group in the world. The young of all the groups benefited from how Remus set up the education.

Sirius, having spent time as an auror, devoted his time to helping the packs hide better. He taught them all about how the aurors operated, at least how they did while he was with them, so they would know the best way to counter their techniques. They found Sirius was a natural diplomat when it came to getting the different groups to work together so he was often tasked with helping to mediate disputes, something that was incredibly odd for someone who had always been considered the most volatile of his friends, but it worked.

Ava, despite being mated to a werewolf, was completely human. She was a licensed healer who had emigrated from Romania when she had met Malachi on a trip. Despite her having her full healers license she was blocked from working full time in St. Mungo’s due to the Ministry of Magics biased laws. The Ministry had placed restrictions on all foreign educated workers since they didn’t like the education models in other countries. This meant that although Ava was better educated, since Romania didn’t restrict magic the way Britain did, she could only work part-time as a medi-witch, even most of her colleagues admitted she knew more about healing than they did and she was often consulted by the full healers when they were stuck. But only working part time was a bit of a benefit for her, she got a bit of money for her family, plus she had more time to devote to the clinic she had set up to look after the pack. It also meant she served as Harry’s healer and had become very close to him those first few months as she had been helping to build him up and heal the damage done to his body by the Dursleys.

The rest of the pack doted on Harry. And it wasn't just the wolves. It seemed like Harry was irresistible to everyone in the packs regardless of who they were, even the goblins seemed to like him, and everyone knew how they felt about humans.

* * *

For Harry’s ninth birthday he only asked for one thing, he wanted to be adopted. Harry theorized that if he was adopted he would be able to legally change his name and not have to be Harry Potter anymore.

Although he loved his parents and never wanted to disrespect them, he knew he would never know peace as Harry Potter. A few weeks before expressing his birthday wish Harry had gotten his hands on a copy of the Daily Prophet that had an entire page dedicated to peoples opinions on him and where he might be. Reading all those theories and things people were saying about him made him realize that to most he was a figurehead, not a person.

The plans were still for Harry to attend Hogwarts when he turned 11. Harry was more than a little nervous about that but had agreed on the understanding he could withdraw if he really didn’t want to be there. But while he was there Harry just wanted a chance to be a normal kid like any other.

Remus and Sirius discussed it, and they had to agree, they knew James and Lily would love their son regardless of his name. Once they decided to agree, they went to speak with Fenrir and a few others. They decided to conduct a magical adoption first before doing one in the muggle world, and there were two ways to do a magical adoption. The first method was to apply at the Ministry, and the other was to pay the goblins, they decided to use the goblins for the secrecy they prided themselves on.

The goblin clan that was included in the pack were strictly crafters, but they were more than willing to arrange for a private meting with their cousins. From there the arrangements were done with little to no fuss. The goblins of Gringotts were more than happy to pull one over on the witches and wizards that looked down on them.

The only issue they had was that there were so many that wanted to take part. In the end it was decided to use a magical adoption. It would use the magic of those involved since they didn’t want to turn Harry into a creature, it also meant Mother Magic herself would be the one to select whether Harry got a new name or not and if he did it would be legally binding in the magical world.

On the evening of his ninth birthday all the different sub-groups that made up the pack gathered to take part in Harry’s adoption. Sirius, Remus, and Fenrir stood just behind Harry in the position of new parents, Malachi and Ava were there to represent the werewolves, and there were couples from each of the other groups that had been selected to represent their faction standing in a circle around a runic alter. Even the centaurs sent representatives to be a part of the ritual.

When everything was ready Harry went to lay on the alter. Each group came forward and added a small amount of their magic to the runes that surrounded Harry. Once all the runes were full they funnelled the magic into Harry as everyone gathered chanted their request to Mother Magic to make Harry their family.

The magic swirled around Harry before entering his body painlessly. Harry glowed for a few moments as his features changed ever so slightly before the glow died down. His tan skin became slightly paler, his face slightly leaner and his lips fuller. His hair went from a messy mop of dark brown to a wavey crown of jet black. The largest change had to be in his eyes though, his once bright green eyes gained specks of silver and blue causing them to look turquoise. None of the changes were overly dramatic, but it was just enough that he didn’t look like an exact double of his father with his mothers eyes, they hoped it would be enough to hide him in plain sight.

But it was more than that, his magic changed too. From Sirius he would gain the Black family gift of being a metamorphmagus. From the creatures his senses were heightened, and he would also inherit some of their natural talents, like silkies and water magic. The added magic also expanded his core slightly, not that is core needed it in any way since he was already in the top percentile when it came to core size. But the biggest change was one that no one could really see, the protection that had been left by Lily’s sacrifice was supercharged by all those offering their strength to protect her son, no one knew it but the added power tore threw the dark soul shard and dissipated it without anyone even knowing.

Magic did indeed grant him a new name that day too. Harry James Potter became Connor Jamison Caliban.

The new name had caused Ava to laugh. When questioned on it she explained. The name Connor was Irish and it meant lover of wolves. Jamison was rather self-explanatory. And Caliban was her maiden name. In Romanian Caliban meant Black. The Romanian Caliban family was an offshoot of the English Black family from a few hundred years prior.

It was a new name, but it still described the same boy.

Once the magical side was handled they made quick work of handling the muggle side. Magic made things move much quicker when dealing with muggles.

The muggles were easily convinced to allow the adoption of Connor Jamison Caliban, formerly Harry James Potter, by Ava Forester. They used Ava on the paperwork to further separate Harry from Connor and make it harder to track them since there was no connection between Ava and the Potter’s. Also, since Ava was human they didn’t need to worry about the Ministry trying to overturn the adoption based on the fact that it was a werewolf or another type of creature that adopted him. They also arranged for it to be labeled a closed adoption to make it even harder for anyone to get any information about Harry, now Connor.

The only issue that might arise was Connor’s birthday, which was still July 31st What they wouldn’t find out until later was that their calls to Mother Magic had truly been answered by Mother Magic. She had heard the call of so many of her children, all focused on the protection of one of her favoured children and chose to bless them all.

It had become harder for her to reach her children in Britain in recent decades. A call to Mother Magic wasn't like opening a door, it was more like building a bridge. It took multiple people all calling on her for her to be able to reach back. In the past she had been able to reach across the veil much easier as there were more people calling on her at any given time, but now it was only on the major magical holidays where those who followed the traditions called her but it was getting harder and harder as the traditions were being stamped out.

The reason she had been able to reach out and truly help the boy formerly known as Harry Potter was due to the number of magicals all calling for the same thing. So many all focused on the same thing had made it possible for her to reach them, and she was perfectly willing to help them.

To do so she made it so that although Connor’s birth date would be recorded on his legal paperwork she would blur the perception of it. No one would be able to connect it with Harry Potter. To make sure the magic held she also placed an enchantment on Connor himself that would stop others from being able to connect him to Harry Potter unless he admitted his former identity to them himself. And just for a little extra fun she ensured the name Harry Potter would remain listed in the Hogwarts book so Albus Dumbledore would feel secure for a bit longer.

* * *

As everyone knew would happen, time passed and soon enough it was time for the boy formally known as Harry Potter to attend Hogwarts.

At first Connor had been confident. His Uncles Sirius and Remus had prepared him for Hogwarts. They had spent years telling him all about their own time at the school, and they had explained about the classes and professors, or, as much as the could remember. They had given him the marauders prank journal and Remus’s copy of the Marauders Map to help him learn more about the schools layout, and the kinds of fun he could get up to.

He had been excited since he got his letter, he was finally going to get to start learning magic, while he had been taught theory as a child he hadn’t been allowed to cast anything. And that excitement carried on as he said good-bye to everyone, it had been agreed that Ava would be the only one to take him to the platform since Remus couldn’t be seen with him and Sirius couldn’t be seen period. He was a little disappointed about that but still excited.

When he and Ava arrived at the platform just after 10:30 he had been ready for anything. Ava had had to leave almost immediately since she had patients to see back at camp and was working an afternoon shift at St. Mungo’s. But then she was gone.

Connor froze. Surrounded by people Connor felt completely alone. He hadn’t been alone since the day the pack found him.

Thankfully he wasn't alone for long. A set of identical red heads spotted the lost boy standing all alone with a trunk and owl cage at his feet. They helped him get his trunk on the train and chatted with him for a few moments, helping to take his mind off the soul crushing loneliness he felt. But then a banshee like voice called for them. They didn’t want to leave the boy all alone again but also knew they couldn’t bring him near their mum, they never knew how she would react with new people, she might go full mother and start babying the boy or she might be incredibly rude as she was with anyone she thought came from a dark or neutral family.

The twins were relieved when they spotted a year mate of theirs, Cedric Diggory. Cedric was a good guy and they knew he would be able to calm the kid. As a Hufflepuff they knew he would be more than willing to look after the kid and make sure he settled into a compartment on the train comfortably. They found they liked the kid and would normally be willing to do it themselves, but their mum was shouting for them again and they knew she was going to want them to deal with their bratty little brother.

Cedric said good-bye to his parents before starting to escort Connor to the train. On the way there they found another soon to be first year who was even more frightened than Connor. Neville Longbottom had been being berated by his grandmother while trying to get his trunk on the train and Cedric was quick to intervene to offer assistance with the trunk and invite Neville to join him and Connor in a compartment. Neville had agreed in a relieved voice and quickly said good-bye to his gran before all but running onto the train.

The train ride had been rather enjoyable for Connor and his new friends. Cedrick had chosen to stay with Connor and Neville in their compartment so they had many of his friends passing by stopping in to greet their friend. Cedric made sure to introduce everyone to Connor and Neville as a way to make the boys realize they weren’t going to be alone.

Connor and Neville appreciated being included. The two boys quickly bonded, not just with Cedric, but with each other too. They talked about the different houses and Cedric did his best to offer them an unbiased description of each. Neville told them about what his gran wanted from him and Connor explained a bit about his family.

Fred and George Weasley spent about an hour with them too. Connor was the only one of the three of them that were able to keep up with the twins since he had experience with pranksters through his Uncles and the trouble they got themselves into.

The only time things were ever less than good in the compartment was first when a red head that Cedric later said was the younger brother of the twins slammed into their compartment. He was demanding to know if they had seen Harry Potter and started arguing with Connor when he asked why he wanted to know. When Neville tried to speak up the boy turned on him and started mocking him. It was stopped when Cedric made Ron leave.

It was less than an hour later that a bushy haired girl that introduced herself as Hermione Granger came storming into their compartment going on about a lost pet. Once there she started to spout off about how she was a muggle-born and all the different things she was going to learn, how amazing the headmaster was, and how she was going to be the top of every class. She got angry and stormed back out when Connor questioned her on why it mattered when she brought up how Harry Potter was supposed to be on the train and would be sorted into Gryffindor. The three boys in the compartment just shrugged off her attitude.

By the time Connor got off the train he felt excited to be going to Hogwarts once again.

After sailing across the lake it was time for the sorting. Since his last name started with a C Connor was called up early.

The hat hemmed and hawed for a bit before making its decision. Connor Caliban was a Hufflepuff.

A little while after Connor claimed a seat near Cedric he was joined by Neville. He was glad he would have at least someone he knew in his year, that he knew he could tolerate at least.

Everyone started gossiping when the P’s came to an end and there was no Potter called. It got even more confusing when as the last first year went to take his seat at his table the Professor called out ‘Potter, Harry’. No one came forward since there were no students left. The Professor then showed the Headmaster the list and pointed to something and they tried calling for Harry Potter again, but no one came forward.

The noise in the hall built to a dull roar as the students all started to chatter as the Headmaster started the feast. The professors were just as talkative as the students that night and could be seen talking very seriously with those on either side of themselves.

But there was nothing for it, Harry Potter wasn't there and the students were sent to their dorms for the night.

Connor’s first year went well. He was easily accepted in Hufflepuff and had plenty of friends by the end of the first week, although Neville was his best friend along with the twins and Cedric.

There had naturally been a few slight hiccups, but nothing Connor couldn’t handle. It had only taken a few days of class to realize something was wrong with Neville’s wand, when Neville told him about what his gran had said he had gone to Professor Sprout and she had quickly sorted it out.

There had been an incident in the first flying class where Neville had lost control of his broom but Connor had managed to fly up and catch him before he got hurt. Professor Sprout had scolded him for taking such a risk with his safety while thanking him and congratulating him for helping Neville. It had also caught the attention of the quidditch team. Cedric was the teams seeker that year, but that was only because they hadn’t been able to find anyone better, he was originally a chaser and that was the position he preferred. The team captain had assigned Cedric to help train Connor so that when he was old enough to be on the team the next year he would be ready. The house had approached Professor Sprout about potentially allowing Connor on the team early, but she categorically refused as he hadn’t passed his flying class yet and she felt it was just to dangerous. The team had grumbled, but they understood since they more than anyone knew just how dangerous playing could be.

Then a troll had somehow managed to get into the school. The Headmaster had actually almost sent the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins directly towards it but thankfully Professors Sprout and Snape had seen sense when Connor questioned them on it and had the houses stay in the great hall.

For Yule Connor had happily gone home. While there he spoke to Ava and asked her to check on the condition of Neville’s parents. He had gotten his friend to talk about what had happened to them. According to Neville the healers that looked after them had deemed them incurable when they had been brought in and just provided care for them without ever bothering to try and help them. Connor requested that Ava see if she could examine them since she had a wider variety of medical knowledge than most healers educated in Britain.

Ava had come back with some good news, the Longbottoms had been misdiagnosed. Although they had been tortured, their catatonic state was brought on with a different curse. It would take time, but that curse could be lifted. There would still be the damage caused by the torture to deal with, but removing the curse should greatly improve their condition.

After the holidays it was back to school. More classes and more fun. Connor had already endeared himself to much of the staff. Most agreed there was just something about the precocious child that made him nearly irresistible. Even Snape liked him, but that was mostly because he had given him reason to force Granger to stick to the length limits he assigned on assignments.

Granger had not responded well to being forced to comply with the instructions in many of her classes. The Headmaster had had to intervene a few times attempting to get the Professors to change their minds, and a few had, but most weren’t allowing her to get away with not following instructions. Granger had been furious about being forced to restrict how much she wrote and Connor was just glad she didn’t know he was the one that had brought it up with Snape since he didn’t trust the slightly violent girl not to seriously hurt him. Before certain professors started marking her down for improperly completed assignments she had been ranked in the top five students but had dropped down after that. She was still in the top 30, but just couldn’t accept the problem was her disregard of instructions and not the professors being unfair and biased against her because she was muggle-born, she still went on long winded rants about how she was the smartest of their generation and everyone needed to listen to her.

At the end of the year something weird happened to Connor. He, Neville, and the twins had snuck out late one night to set up a prank. Connor had been grateful that after Gringotts learned Dumbledore had lost track of him they had recalled all the artifacts from the Potter vaults the man had removed as Harry Potters magical guardian, including the Potter invisibility cloak. Sirius and Remus had allowed Connor to remove the cloak and take it with him to school so long as he was careful.

Connor had been sneaking down the hall to set up his part of the prank when someone rushed around the corner slamming right into him. Connor had reached out and grabbed hold of the bare forearms to stop himself from falling but whoever it was had snarled viciously at him and shoved him to the ground before kicking out at him before rushing through the entrance of a secret passage. By the time Connor managed to pull himself up whoever it was was long gone. He had had a massive migraine and his ribs were sore but he carried on before returning to the planning room he and the others used and was babied and treated by the others as they tried to figure out who it was that had attacked him.

Connor would never learn that the person he had run into was the possessed Professor Quirrell. Quirrell had just come from the third floor corridor where he had succeeded in getting past the flimsy defences Dumbledore had arranged to try and protect the stone. It had taken him an hour or so to get the stone out of the mirror, but he had managed it eventually thanks to his lord unwinding some of the spell work for him.

He had been rushing to get out of the school before Dumbledore returned when he had slammed into someone. He had been furious and had felt his Lords rage at the insignificant little fool that had gotten in their way and had lashed out accordingly. It wasn't until he was in the hidden passage way that he noticed the pain in his arms and looked down to see his arms were turning to ash, he assumed it was some kind of enchantment by Dumbledore that had been delayed.

The enchantments on the secret passage kept Connor who was just on the other side of the portrait from hearing as Quirrell screamed as his body disintegrated. Less than two minutes after the attack on Connor in the hallway there was nothing left of the possessed professor other than a cloak, a pile of ash, and a large ruby red stone.

The next day the mess would be found by Fred and George when they went to try and learn what had happened to their friend. They couldn’t identify where the robe had come from since it was just a generic black robe, but they could tell it either came from one of the upper years or one of the professors just based off the size. It was when they picked up the robe they heard the sound of something hitting the floor. When they picked up the fallen object they found the stone.

Neither twin knew why there was a massive ruby in the school, but they knew it was way to valuable to leave laying around. They knew they couldn’t just leave it there so they decided to take it to the Headmaster to have it put in the lost and found. They didn’t know any other students that would bring a giant ruby to school, but some people were just weird like that.

But when they reached the headmasters office they remembered they didn’t have the password, they tried the one that had been used the last time they got in trouble and were marched up there since their mum had personally come to the school to yell at them but it didn’t work. They were just debating who they should take the stone to instead when the stairs suddenly showed up and an obviously angry man came storming out of the Headmasters office and right into them.

All three apologized to each other. The twins recognized the man both from their chocolate frog cards and the books they read, they were both fascinated by alchemy. When they questioned why a man like him was in a childrens school he told them he had been having the Headmaster look after something important for him and the man had lost it.

George lifted up the ruby they had found and they asked him if that was what had been lost. Nicolas Flamel was flabbergasted.

The twins quickly explained what had happened to Connor and how they had found the stone. They did have to explain the whole prank thing, but they figured the man was an inventor himself, surely he had played a few pranks in his day given all the things he had made. And they were in luck, Flamel was much more interested in getting them to explain how they had turned the front entrance of the school into a jungle, animals included, then getting them in trouble. He even asked to see their workshop.

When they reached the abandoned classroom the twins had claimed as their work room in their first year they found Neville tending to one of the plants they used for ingredients while Connor worked on a new experimental rune chain. Flamel was astounded to see what a group of school students had accomplished.

He went on to explain that he owed the twins a life debt for their returning the stone to him. Neither of the twins really knew what to do with that information. There really wasn't anything they felt they would need from the alchemist.

Neville jokingly said that he could give the twins the recipe for the philosopher’s stone so they could make one of their own. The twins had laughed it off but Flamel had said he could do it, so long as they took an oath to never share it since it was a highly volatile recipe and could only successfully be completed by a master, a failed attempt of the proper recipe resulted in mass destruction and death. The twins said they would consider it, but they didn’t want it then since they were no where near the levels they would need to be to make a stone of their own.

It had been Connor that came up with the next suggestion when he pointed out that the twins wanted to open their own joke shop. He figured it would be nice if Flamel financed the shop once the twins finished school and that until then it would help to have an adult that knew what they were doing look over their work, it would keep them from making any major mistakes and speed up the creation of their pranks. That idea had been quickly accepted by all involved.

For Connor and his friends the year ended well and they all went home promising to stay in contact.

It was after the train had left that Albus Dumbledore finally allowed his fury out. The entire year had been a complete and total nightmare. Nothing had gone as he had planned.

It had all started at the beginning of the year with Harry Potter failing to arrive. The fact that his name had been on the bottom of the sorting list meant that he had accepted his position there, but no Harry Potter had shown up. He needed Harry Potter.

He had gotten multiple floo calls and letters from that idiot Fudge demanding to know where the boy was. Thankfully the boys lack of showing up couldn’t be blamed on him. Everyone knew the Ministry had stripped him of the boys custody, to his eternal rage, but that meant they were the ones responsible for finding him.

Albus knew he needed to find that boy and get him under control before anyone else got to him. He had spent way to much time and effort on creating Harry Potter. Since the moment he had heard that prophecy Albus had arranged everything. He was still furious fate had chosen a pathetic child to be the hero, Albus had always felt it should be him to get to be the one to defeat Tom. He still couldn’t believe those pathetic muggles had cost him his weapon, he felt absolutely no sympathy for them or their son.

Then there were the issues faced by his pawns. At first he had managed to keep control of the situation surrounding the two primary pawns he had at the school in regards to Potter, he had plenty of pawns but only the two of them were supposed to be focused on Potter, but he had slowly lost the support of his staff in protecting and covering for them. Albus had groomed Ronald, Hermione, and Ginevra to be in control of the Potter boy and keep him on track, but now the boy was missing and they didn’t have the protection of his fame that would have excused their issues with most people.

Albus had had to take a step back and allow the professors to deal with his pawns as they wished if only to maintain their support. And that had of course lead to his pawns being unhappy, it was worse in the case of Ronald as he had run to his mother and Albus absolutely hated having to deal with Molly’s moods.

He had been searching for Potter since he learned he was missing but had had absolutely no success. At times he had considered just finding a random child and turning him into the boy, but he knew that wouldn’t work, or he at least hadn’t found a way to make it work yet. But the goblins would be a problem, if he ever brought the fake anywhere near Gringotts they would demand a test to prove he was who he claimed to be and that would just cause to many questions to be raised. He wanted access to the Potter fortune, but that would have to wait until he found the boy and ensured he would never go anywhere without permission again.

And the way the year had ended had just made things worse. When Albus had arrived back at the school only to find that the stone and that possessed fool were gone he had been ready to kill. He had wanted that stone.

He had of course had to tell Nicolas. The man had actually had the temerity to yell at him. Albus may have been his student at one time, but he was so much more than that now and deserved respect. He had tried to explain how it really was for the greater good, after all it was time Nicolas and Paranelle moved on, but he just wouldn’t listen.

Albus had hoped that if Tom really had the stone he would be able to return and that would guide him to the Potter boy. Surely there would have to be some kind of connection between the fated enemies that would allow them to locate each other.

But he had gotten a curt letter from Nicolas at breakfast stating that he had used a ritual to retrieve his stone and it showed no evidence of having been used. And that meant not only did Nicolas have the stone again, but Tom hadn’t even successfully managed to return. And there was no way Nicolas was going to allow him to have the stone again without having to be forced in some way, but the man had said he and his wife were going away for a few years.

Everything had failed that year, even his enemies failed. Albus could just hope the next year would be better.

* * *

The summer was great for Connor and his friends, in particularly for Neville.

As Ava had said Nevilles parents were recovering and were showing great progress. Not only could they speak, but they knew who their son was. Neville got to go in and visit them every day. They would still need to be in the hospital for a few months, but they would be released by the end of the year.

But one person Neville didn’t see everyday was his gran. About a week after summer started he had sent a letter requesting to go and spend a few days with Connor and his family. Connor had discussed it with his family and they agreed since Connor said Neville could be trusted so he was allowed to come. Things had been tense between Neville and his gran ever since the wand issue at the beginning of the year and it had blown up just after he returned when Neville refused to back down when she had tried to get him to get resorted into Gryffindor for the next school year along with starting to ‘do the Longbottom name proud for once’. The situation had devolved to the point where Neville just couldn’t tolerate living with his gran and had needed to get out.

Neville ended up spending the entire rest of the summer living with Connor and his family. And he couldn’t have been happier. It was sad for him to realize that he was accepted and cared for instantly by Connors family while his own, excluding his parents as far as h knew, had never shown they truly even liked him.

And through the summer the two boys had a standing invitation to the Diggory’s for tea every weekend. And since the Diggory’s lived near the Weasley’s the twins always came over to hang out with them. Cedric was a popular boy, but he always made sure to spend time with the two younger students he had taken under his wing

After two months of fun it was time to return to school. Connor and Neville were all smiles as they went to catch the train that year in contrast to the year before. Ava had convinced the staff at St. Mungo’s to allow her to escort Nevilles parents to the platform so they could send Neville off. And something that made Neville even happier was that on the current schedule his parents were set to be released from the hospital the month before he came home for Yule.

* * *

Connor’s second year had its moments, but it really wasn't that different from his first.

Since he was officially a second year he was allowed to try out for, and join, the Hufflepuff quidditch team. He was made seeker and Cedric moved to be lead chaser. There team went on to win the quidditch cup that year.

It was once again on Halloween that things seemed to go off the rails in terms of safety. Mrs. Norris was attacked much to Connor’s horror. Connor had managed to become slightly friendly with Filch and his cat after he had seen Filch with a Quick-Spell brochure. A few of the squibs associated with the pack had attended that course and had told him horror stories. Connor warned Filch about what he had heard and arranged to give the man information on other courses that were far more beneficial.

Connor was glad he would be able to help. When he had gone to check in on the man after the attack Filch had mentioned that the Headmaster said Mrs. Norris could be healed by a potion but they would have to wait until the mandrakes the herbology class was growing matured. Connor quickly found a way around it. He wrote to the forest elves and explained the situation, they in turn sent back a selection of their own mature mandrakes and even included a list of everything the packs knew that could petrify anything. Connor took the mandrakes to Madame Pomfrey, and Professors Snape and sprout.

Then a Gryffindor boy was attacked after the first quidditch match of the year. That was when people started really getting nervous. But thankfully Professor Snape had made multiple doses of the potion they used on Mrs. Norris and the boy was back in class by the next week.

The only thing that had really started to worry Connor was that he had started to hear a voice talking about killing. He spoke about it with the twinsand they agreed with him it was worrisome, but they weren’t sure about speaking with the professors about it. They decided to do some investigating on their own before speaking with a professor since they didn’t want Connor to get blamed for what was happening.

It was investigating the oddity of the fleeing spiders that lead Connor into the forbidden forest and directly to the nest of acromantulas. Given how he had grown up Connor wasn't weirded out by odd things like giant spiders. At first they had considered eating him, but then they found a compromise. Connor wanted information, and the spiders needed something as well, one of the little spiderlings had fallen from the web and broken his leg. His parents had tried to fix it, but they didn’t have the tools or capability to make a splint that would support his weight until it had healed. Normally they would have Hagrid do it but the giant had been busy at the school and hadn’t been out to visit in a few weeks. Connor saw no issue with it and set about treating the injured spider while they talked. And so began one of the oddest friendships Connor had ever been a part of, it wouldn’t be long until the spiderlings were acting like puppies whenever he visited the nest, something he would often do over the coming years.

And then another attack occurred after everyone returned from the holidays. The fact that a ghost had also been harmed was what really worried people since ghosts were rarely effected by anything. Both were quickly treated, but like Colin before them neither had seen what it was, all Justin could say was that it had yellow eyes.

A few days later Connor, Neville, Susan Bones, and Hannah Abbott were walking back to their common room from a meeting about their charms project when they heard someone sobbing in the girls room. Despite knowing there was a good chance it was just Myrtle they couldn’t bring themselves to just walk past. Neville and Connor waited outside while the girls went in to check.

They came out with an odd diary. They agreed to turn it in to the lost and found later and return to their common room as planned to work on their assignment.

While working however a bit of ink got spilled on the diary and it started writing back. The four had all been in the magical world for a long time and were slightly weirded out by the book. They knew there were all kinds of spells, but none had ever heard of something like that. After discussing it they decided to have Susan send it to her aunt to have it checked.

It was only a few days later that Amelia and a team of unspeakables arrived at the school. Connor and his friends were called into Professor Sprouts office one by one to explain what they knew.

While Connor was there he admitted his suspicions. He showed Amelia the list of what it might be and told her about what he had heard in the walls and what the acromantulas had said. Thankfully Amelia, the unspeakable in the office and Professor Sprout all agreed to keep the fact that Connor was a parselmouth a secret since they knew how that would be perceived.

After a thorough investigation they put the pieces together and determine where the Chamber of Secrets was and what was in it. Professor Sprout helped to cover for Connor so he could open the chamber to allow the ministry officials in without anyone knowing it was him.

But it wasn't just the chamber that they learned about. They also manage to track down who had had the diary.

Ginny Weasley had been less than pleased when she was called up to the Headmasters office only to be told her brothers had mentioned her lost diary. Having her father called in to discuss the issue was even worse. She could have easily handled her mum, but her dad could get weird ideas about what she was and wasn't allowed to do. When she had been informed that she should have turned the diary in rather than trying to hide it and was going to be punished because of it she only got angrier.

Ginny was given weekend detentions for the rest of the year and her father had informed her they would be having plenty of long discussions about what he called ‘appropriate behaviour’ when she got home. She had tried to get the teachers not to punish her, and the Headmaster and Professor McGonagall had agreed, but the other heads of house along with Amelia Bones refused to see things her way.

While the Headmaster hadn’t been able to stop Ginny being punished he was able to stop anyone else knowing just why it was happening. He didn’t want the girls reputation to be destroyed since he planned on using her once he found Harry Potter. As far as the students were concerned Ginny had gotten in trouble for all the classes she had been skipping that year, which had actually been plenty.

After that things settled right down for the last few months of school. The students were still a little on edge, but nothing else out of the norm happened and by the end of the year everyone felt fine

* * *

The summer before Connor started his third year was similar to the last summer. The only major difference was that Neville didn’t live with them since he had moved in with his parents although they still spent a lot of time together.

Connor talked with Cedric, Fred, and George about his family and they agreed to keep his secrets so they were able to visit him with the pack. It wasn't that Connor was in any way ashamed of his family, but he knew it would be risky to allow those like the Ministry to know about the pack. While the Ministry had been failing in passing many new creature restrictions thanks to Dumbledore losing control of the Potter seats they still made their dislike obvious and he didn’t want to risk being taken away or having his family used to scare the simple minded masses.

The next school year became something Connor was really looking forward to when Remus got a letter inviting him to take up the position of defence professor. After learning there had been a basilisk near his cub Remus wanted to check the school over and make sure it was safe for Connor to stay there. To be honest pretty much every member of the pack wanted to check the school and would prefer to keep Connor with them, but he knew it just wasn't feasible to do that.

Remus having the position of professor became even more important to the family when a photo of the Weasley family appeared in the paper while on their trip to Egypt and Pettigrew was on the shoulder of the youngest boy. Over the years they had investigated leads, but they had found no trace of the rat until then.

They decided they needed to make his reveal happen publicly. Those in the Ministry were still searching for Sirius and they would never willingly admit to what they had done. So they would need to force their hand and having a supposedly dead man show up in front of a crowd would make it harder for them to cover up.

By the time summer came to an end they were ready.

For Connor and his friends the year was even calmer than it had been the previous two. This year there were no attacks on students or forbidden corridors.

The biggest bit of drama was when Pettigrew was revealed at the first quidditch match that took place in November. The game had been made into a big public event by Dumbledore who was trying to win his way into the good graces of the Wizengamot members that had been opposing many of the laws he wanted passed.

They had arranged for the rat to be in the spectators stand with the staff and Wizengamot members. Lord Gilbert Harper was one of those invited to the game and he was the one to arrange the accident that revealed the rat. He had had a revealing potion and requested Snape to ensure its quality. Once the potion was authenticated all it took was a bit of jostling for it to tip and spill on the rat causing his true form to be revealed. Amelia Bones who had also been there had the man in magic suppressor cuffs in a matter of seconds.

The rat was then taken to the Ministry and questioned about why he had been hiding as a childs pet for a decade. The man was deemed as untrustworthy and was therefore forced to take veritaserum. Pettigrew spilled everything he could about how he was the one that betrayed the Potters and was the one to kill the muggles and frame Sirius Black for his crimes.

Pettigrew was placed on trial for his crimes and was found guilty and sentenced to life in Azkaban. They also finally got around to giving Sirius the trial he had never received. It took a bit of time to arrange that trial since Sirius had hired a barrister and they demanded proof that Sirius wouldn’t be harmed in an effort to cover up what the Ministry had done to him.

When Sirius trial was held he was declared innocent of all crimes. His barrister then immediately sued for damages, wrongful arrest, false imprisonment, and attempted murder since there had been a kiss-on-sight order given. Thanks to the fact they had snuck an animigus registration form into Sirius’s auror file he wasn't even charged for not registering. Sirius won his suit, and he won big, the Ministry even had to pay him back wages.

The only true disappointment was that when Pettigrew was being transferred to Azkaban the idiots at the Ministry neglected to ensure his restraints would stop him from changing and he was able to escape. It was infuriating to have the little rat escape justice once again, but at least Sirius was free from all suspicion and was able to move around publicly.

As all of that was happening Albus Dumbledore was becoming more and more desperate. Nothing he was trying was working to find the Potter brat.

And then Pettigrew had to go and get himself caught. Albus had intentionally had Black sent to Azkaban without trial to ensure the fool didn’t try and take his pawn from him. When Black had escaped he had been slightly worried, but nothing had come of it so he had started to relax. No one had seemed to care enough about the man to check his file. Albus had hoped he would get caught and kissed before he could make a nuisance of himself.

Now not only was the man no longer in prison, he was proclaimed innocent. If they found Potter now Black might be able to challenge him for custody of the boy, and given public sentiment he just might be granted it. Albus knew he was going to have to work on either getting Black on his side again or making him look unfit to care for Potter.

It aggravated him how nothing had been going his way. Most of the laws he supported weren’t making it through the Wizengamot anymore, Potter was missing, and his pawns weren’t making a good impression on the staff or students. Granger in particular had been an issue since she had wanted to take all the electives. He had tried to arrange for her to get a time-turner, but the idiots in the Department of Mysteries had refused him, and when he tried to change their minds they had threatened him. And Ron and Ginny were barely passing making Molly upset.

He had hoped Remus would be useful, but he hadn’t been. He had thought he might be able to have Remus track Potter, but the man had said he couldn’t, it had just been too long for him to find a useable trail at the campsite where it had all started. When he questioned the man why he didn’t try tracking the child earlier he said he had, but since no one had known the boy was missing for so long the trail had already been lost.

He had thought there might be a chance that Remus or Black may have found the boy, but that had proven false. Remus had informed him he had been working as a private tutor over the years and Albus had found no evidence to the contrary, in fact he knew it was true since he knew the man had worked with one of the students currently attending. When Black had been brought in for his trial Albus had had the interrogator confront him asking him if he had Harry Potter and he had said he didn’t, and since he was under a truth potion at the time Albus knew he wasn't lying. Unfortunately for Albus he didn’t know about the magical name change.

Albus knew he was going to have to find some way to locate the boy soon. It was why he had arranged for Pettigrew to escape. He had always known the man was a spy and hoped he would go running back to his master. If Tom returned it might help in locating the boy since they were connected by the horcrux Albus knew was in the boy.

* * *

By the time Connor entered his fourth year he was far more confident and ready for pretty much everything. The only thing that really disappointed him was that Remus would not be returning to the school. They had talked about it and it had just been too hard for him to be away from his mates for so long, even if he did often go home for a few hours each week. Connor understood, it really wasn't healthy for a mated wolf to be away from their mates for prolonged periods of time, but he was still going to miss him, he had been the best defence professor they had had.

When the Triwizard Tournament was announced Connor was as excited as all the other students, although he didn’t feel at all upset he was too young to compete unlike many others. Connor was interested in watching, but he had no desire to foolishly risk his life for the entertainment of others.

His heart had almost stopped when the name Harry Potter came out of the cup after the three champions had been chosen. And then another slip of parchment came from the cup, once again with the name Harry Potter. The Headmaster called for Harry Potter a few more times, Connor didn’t miss the nearly maniacal glee in his eyes as he stayed right where he was at the Hufflepuff table.

As soon as the rest of the students were released Connor quickly wrote to his family. He needed to make sure he couldn’t be forced into the tournament and risk exposing himself. Thankfully he wasn't the only one writing home so his letter was lost in the mass of owls.

It was in the Daily Prophet the next day that Harry Potters name had been added to the cup twice. Sirius, in his role as godfather publicly challenged what was going on and demanded answers, not only did everyone know that his godsons location was unknown but he was underage, he demanded, and got, a full investigation into the happenings with the cup.

It was announced two weeks before the first task that there were two different magical signatures on the pieces of parchment and that both were adults. After examining the cup they found that although the cup had given Harry’s name twice he hadn't been bound by a magical contract since he hadn’t entered his own name. Because he wasn't bound by a contract Harry would be allowed to compete if he wanted to but was under no obligation.

Connor had let out a silent sigh of relief when he had gotten the letter telling him that he would be fine if he just kept his head down. His name had magically been changed which was why the magical contracts had been unable to attach to him, his name was no longer Harry Potter.

With the tasks to look forward to the days passed quickly.

Connor was the one who figured out what the first task was. He had been on an evening visit to Aragog and his family when he heard the sounds of the dragons being unloaded. He had been so caught up in staring that he had literally walked right into Charlie who knew about him from the letters from the twins. He and Connor chatted for a bit and Connor convinced him to make sure there were protections around the eggs since having an infuriated mother dragon that close to a school full of children was not conducive to long lives.

As soon as he left Charlie, Connor went straight to Cedric and told him everything. Cedric was grateful but terrified so Connor offered to help him study up on dragons figuring having more than one person would allow them to read more books in the few days they had left before the tournament.

Connor was thrilled when not only did Cedric survive facing off against a Swedish Short-Snout but also came in second place. Although he could have done without seeing his friend getting a few burns from a dragon, at least they had only been minor and he would make a full recovery.

The Yule Ball came next. After plenty of complaints from students and parents, both from Hogwarts and the other schools, it was decided that the students would get the regular 2 weeks off for break starting after the ball. It would allow the students to go to the ball yet still be able to go home and celebrate with their family.

This made Connor and Neville really happy. They had both wanted to attend the ball but really didn’t want to not get to see their families until summer holidays. Connor in particular really wanted to go home as he had just recently gotten a letter telling him the good news, he was going to be a big brother by summer.

The ball itself was a great deal of fun. Connor attended with Fleur, she hadn't wanted to have to deal with some idiot boy drooling all over her who was unable to carry on even the most basic of conversations. Neville attended with Cedric, the two had been growing closer and both were shyly trying to hide the crush they had on each other. Victor selected to invite Luna after he learned about all the bullying she had endured, he personally had no interest in her since she was still just a child and he had a betrothal contract at home, but he wanted people to see she mattered, and if that didn’t work they would know that she had protection.

The ball itself was a blast, especially for Connor. Fred and George were some of his closest friends, and he also had a massive crush on them. Both twins returned that crush but had been too worried about ruining their friendship to say anything, they would rather have him as their friend than lose him if he didn’t return their feelings. However seeing the boy they were both head over heels for with someone as beautiful as Fleur finally pushed them over the edge and they decided to go for what they wanted.

As the ball was nearing its end the twins had approached Fleur and explained how they felt about Connor while he was out dancing with Luna. Fleur was a sucker for a good love story so agreed to assist them in getting their man, especially since she knew Connor felt the same way since he had confessed it to her. Fleur sent Connor out into the garden where he was kiss ambushed by the twins.

And that resulted in Connors first and second kiss, it also accounted for quite a few more.

For the second task Connor, Neville, and Luna were all used as hostages. That didn’t go over well at all with their families. Xenophelius Lovegood was a flighty man, but no one would ever doubt his love for his daughter and he made sure eery knew his opinion by not just yelling at the headmaster, but by also printing an open letter in the Qibbler. Alice and Frank also paid a visit to the Headmaster to excoriate him for using their son like that and not informing them of what he was doing.

Unfortunately for Albus before the Longbottom couple could leave Ava arrived after she learned what had happened with Connor. The entire pack had wanted to come, but it had been agreed to just have her since she was the one that had been publicly seen with Connor, not that any of the others were happy they didn’t get to yell at the man. Fenrir, Remus, and Sirius in particular were all furious about their cub being in such danger. That protective instinct had only been heightened in the trio since both Sirius and Remus were pregnant.

Albus’s ears were left ringing for weeks after that, not that the man showed any remorse for using underage children like that.

As the third task drew near something strange happened. Barty Crouch had appeared and had been completely out of his mind. He had walked into the three champions as they had been on their way back from the quidditch pitch. The three had taken him right to Madam Pomfrey since he was acting so odd.

Unfortunately before the man could be transferred to St. Mungo’s he had died. The official cause of death was suicide. He had been found killed with his own wand by the killing curse.

There had been more than a few questions, but the Ministries official stance was that he had been too overwhelmed by his guilt over what he had done to Sirius and had finally cracked under the strain. When there were calls for an investigation they were quickly quashed.

But this lead the twins to a rather startling discovery, Barty Crouch was still on their map. They followed it and it lead them directly to the man they believed to be Mad-Eye Moody. Something that really worried them was that ‘Alastor Moody’ was always in the same spot in the office.

Connor and the twins watched for a few days. Connor even slipped into the office one day when it said only Moody was in there, but he didn’t see anyone. However when he called out he heard shouting from the trunk.

The next day Fred and George distracted the fake Moody, they also picked his pocket and passed the mans keys off to Connor as he walked past. Connor went to the office and started opening the different compartments of the trunk. In the third one he tried he found the real Moody.

Connor managed to get the real Moody out of the trunk just in time to hear the loud voices of Fred and George as they spoke with the fake. They were intentionally speaking loud so that Connor would know they were returning in case Connor was still in the office. When the door was slammed open by an irritated fake professor Connor was ready and quickly stunned him, and he was hexed by the twins. Once that was done they used the office floo to contact the DMLE and request Amelia Bones. Fred ran to get Madam Pomfrey to help the real Moody while George went to get Professor Sprout.

When all was said and done the fake Moody was identified as Barty Crouch Junior and admitted that his father had broken him out of prison. He had been one of the people that added Harry’s name to the Tournament.

The real Moody was going to be spending a bit of time in St. Mungo’s. Although Crouch couldn’t kill him because polyjuice potion didn’t work on the dead, he did still cause a fair few injuries. And Moody in turn caused even more injuries to himself as he tried to escape. Amelia Bones had had to arrange for an auror to cover teaching defence for the final few weeks of the school year just to make sure the students could get through their exams, she didn’t want the education levels of those applying to the auror academy falling even lower.

But once again there were problems. It would seem that when Crouch had been under the guise of Moody he had convinced Dumbledore to allow him a secret portkey. As soon as he had a moment he triggered the portkey and was whisked right through Hogwarts vaunted wards.

Crouch went directly to his master. Oh, he was punished horribly for all of his failures but Voldemort was not going to give up and assigned Pettigrew to contact Igor Karkaroff.

The third task didn’t go according to anyones plan. It started out fine, none of the champions really had any major trouble in the maze, well, nothing they couldn’t handle.

Cedric reached the cup first and took it after stunning one of the acromantulas Hagrid had placed in the maze. Connor had gone and spoken with them when he had learned what was being planned with the maze since he knew some of them would be placed in there and had gotten them to agree that although they would intimidate none of them would aim to kill. He was truly relieved when he had seen Cedric going up against one of the older adolescents, the spider could have easily killed him but didn’t.

But as soon as Cedric took the cup he disappeared. The cup was a portkey that was supposed to take him back to the entrance of the maze, but he didn’t arrive there like expected. Karkaroff had been terrified into changing the portkey’s destination at the last moment. After the challenge had officially started Karkaroff had made an excuse to go back to the boat for a short while and had instead packed up and made a run for it.

As people at the school began to worry Cedric arrived at an old and dilapidated muggle manor. The plan had been for Voldemort, Pettigrew, and Crouch to contain whoever the champion had been. Originally Voldemort had wanted to use the blood of Harry Potter to create a new body for himself but since they couldn’t find Potter yet he was going to possess the winner since that person had proven themselves worthy until such time as they collected the blood of a worthy enemy.

Unfortunately for them timing was an issue. They had no way of knowing exactly when their… ‘guest’ would arrive. And because of that when Cedric did arrive Crouch was tending to Voldemort's feeding under the watchful gaze of Nagini. The only one in the sitting area where Cedric was delivered was Pettigrew, and he was still recovering from his most recent punishment so wasn't exactly in top form.

Pettigrew was in pain and surprised while Cedric was filled with adrenaline and ready for almost anything. Even as a young man Pettigrew had never been good with a fight, it was why he had surrounded himself with powerful people and after years as a rat followed by a year of random torture by his master he didn’t stand a chance against the skilled teenager.

Pettigrew started throwing hexes and jinxes as quickly as he could while calling out but Cedric was quicker and quickly dove behind the couch for cover. Once he had a basic defence Cedric immediately cast the location alert charm which was used to summon aurors, it would alert the auror office to a problem at that location even after he left. And leaving was exactly what Cedric did. As soon as he had a moment to gather himself he apparated home and then used the floo to contact the aurors a second time just to be sure they got the message.

Since the aurors needed to get Cedrics statement one of the junior aurors was sent to the school to let his parents know where he was and to tell everyone else that he was fine. A team was sent to the area he had cast the alert spell and found the place abandoned, but the body of Pettigrew lay in the centre of the sitting room.

Cedric returned to the school two days after the final task. With his return most of the students settled down for the most part, although Cedric was surrounded by a crowd of overprotective Hufflepuffs every time he left the common room.

It was at the leaving feast things really started to go downhill. The Headmaster decided to announce to everyone that it had been Voldemort that was behind Harry Potter’s name being put in the goblet of fire and the kidnapping of Cedric, the paper had reported it as Crouch for Harry and Pettigrew for the attack on Cedric. With that announcement he infuriated Minister Fudge. Fudge absolutely refused to accept that Voldemort was still alive even after Crouch’s testimony to Madam Bones and immediately saw Dumbledore as his enemy and started attacking him in the press the very next day.

And with that Connor’s fourth year at Hogwarts came to an end without him being in any true danger, although that could be argued as he had a disturbing tendency to wander into the forbidden forest in the evenings when no one was looking.

* * *

It was shortly after returning home for the summer that Connor officially became a big brother. Remus gave birth to a baby boy June 30th. Hunter Loki Black-Lupin-Greyback had Remus’s soft brown hair and Fenrir’s dark eyes. One week later on July 7th Sirius had Raven Hope Black-Lupin-Greyback. Raven looked every bit like her noble Black heritage but had Remus’s hazel green eyes.

And now that Connor was older he was allowed to leave the pack more, although he did have a tendency to stay close since he only had so much time with his younger siblings before he had to go back to school.

He still did his usual visits to see Neville and his parents along with Cedric and his parents, but that summer he finally started to visit the Weasley house, The Burrow. Up until then Fred and George had always kept him away because they didn’t want him to have to deal with their family. They knew their dad would be fine, but they still didn’t fully trust their mum to be polite. And then there was Ron and Ginny. While Ron never really went out of his way to pick fights with Connor like he did with anyone in Slytherin he also was never kind, making his opinion of the Puffs clear especially since Connor was well liked by all houses and on the quidditch team making him jealous. And Ginny was a spoiled little girl that thought every boy should be in love with her.

But Connor felt it was only right if they were going to date that he should meet their family. And it went just as the twins had worried. Their dad had no problem with Connor and the two got along great since Connor spent time in the muggle world and was perfectly happy to answer his questions. It had actually gone better then they had hoped with their mum. She didn’t fully approve of their relationship but knew if she told the twins no it would just make them like the boy more so she was perfectly polite, in her opinion but wasn't nearly as hospitable as she was to those like Hermione Granger. Ron behaved exactly like Ron always did, if it wasn't about him or quidditch he didn’t really care. And Ginny was just like the twins had expected, she seemed to see her brothers boyfriend as a challenge and went out of her way to try and seduce him, trying every time he came to tea no matter how many times she was politely rejected.

And every now and then Connor’s visits overlapped with those of Hermione Granger. That just made things more uncomfortable since Connor was ranked above her in school and the girl could not stand that.

It was after the initial meeting with the Weasley family Connor made a decision, he couldn’t be in a relationship with the twins if it wasn't honest. He discussed it with his family and got them to agree, with a few conditions. The next time Fred and George went to visit them they were placed under secrecy spells, with their agreement, and Connor told them the truth of who he was. Although the twins were surprised it didn’t change anything to them, they loved Connor Caliban, and that didn’t change just because he used to have a different name.

The summer was made a bit more interesting by the fact that Dumbledore was trying to restart the Order of the Phoenix. Remus and Sirius went to a few meetings that were held at The Burrow but weren’t really interested. Oh, they knew Voldemort was trying to make a return and they would fight him if he did, but after everything Albus had pulled during the last war and ever since they had no intention of following his instructions again. They had trusted him with their pack before and it had been a disaster.

It was an even more touchy subject since Dumbledore wanted to use a property that belonged to Sirius as his headquarters. The man had started telling Sirius who was going to live there and how he would do the warding once Sirius opened the property. He also instructed Remus that he was going to need to start going around to the different werewolf packs and recruit as many wolves to their side as possible. It wasn't a big issue since Remus already lived with the main wolf pack, the issue was the way he just started giving orders.

And through all that Albus was making all kinds of plans for what they were all to do once they located Harry Potter.

* * *

As the fifth year started Connor was content. It was a disappointment that the Ministry had placed a woman named Deloris Umbridge in the position of defence professor. The woman was an absolutely atrocious teacher and the students were learning nothing.

Thankfully for the students DADA grades there were study groups. Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin upper years took it upon themselves to teach those younger than them. The seventh years all felt that it would be great review for them to help the younger years study.

A few of the upper year students in Gryffindor had tried to do the same but the only student that really showed any true interest in the group was Hermione and she was still of the opinion she was the smartest there so kept trying to take over. The few who did bother to show up quickly left not wanting to have to deal with Hermione’s overbearing behaviour.

Thankfully Umbridge didn’t last long. As October started Connor noticed the way his boyfriends were very cautious when they used their hands and upon closer inspection saw the forming scars. It took a bit of work but he eventually got them to admit that Umbridge was making them use a blood quill in detention.

After thoroughly scolding them for their ‘foolish Gryffindor pride’ Connor set to work to make the woman pay. First he tried going to McGonagall and Dumbledore since he figured they would care the most, both as former Gryffindors but also as Headmaster and Deputy-Headmistress. Dumbledore wouldn’t even meet with him since he wasn't one of his favoured students and McGonagall wouldn’t listen to anything after he said he wanted to discuss Umbridge.

Seeing the two of them were useless he went to one teacher he knew would tear apart anyone that hurt her students. He took the twins to see Professor Sprout. As soon as she was told what was happening the woman was ready to kill. She immediately contacted the DMLE and a team of aurors were sent to place the vial woman under arrest within 15 minutes. Once Fred and George had spoken with the aurors Sprout escorted them to the hospital wing, Connor made a quick side trip before joining them.

Because Connor was feeling rather vindictive towards Dumbledore and McGonagall over their disregard for his boyfriends safety he decided to write a letter to none other than Molly Weasley.

For her part Molly Weasley’s opinion of her sons boyfriend rose fractionally when she got a concerned letter about how her children had been tortured and no one had thought to inform her. Both Molly and Arthur flooed directly to the Headmasters office all but breathing fire not only that their children had been hurt but that they hadn’t been informed. Unfortunately for Albus and Minerva who were trying to calm the furious parents Severus arrived to inform everyone that he had just delivered the scar ointment the twins would need and let slip that no matter what he did the twins would carry the scars for the rest of their lives since they were inflicted with cursed dark artifacts.

Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt who had filled in for Moody the year before was sent back to the school. The plan was for him to only be there until a proper teacher was found, but since Albus was so focused on his latest schemes he never got around to hiring a teacher leaving Shacklebolt to finish out the year.

With Umbridge gone the school year carried on as normal. Connor was sad as he prepped for his OWLs as Fred, George, and Cedric were all getting ready for their NEWTs. All three were set to graduate, and although he was happy for them, he was going to miss having them around.

The most dramatic thing that happened after Umbridge left was when Draco Malfoy found out that Connor was a metamorphmagus just before they went home for Yule. Thankfully Connor was just able to explain the Black connection so the boy didn’t have any problem with it since it meant they were distantly related. Draco and Connor had been friendly over the years and it had helped to deflate the other boys ego slightly and kept him from making a major fool of himself a lot. Draco actually liked how people reacted around him thanks to Connor not putting up with his antics and it made him more level headed, and more Slytherin in his godfathers opinion, so being related just made him like the other boy even more.

* * *

Outside the school things were far more dramatic. Crouch had managed to escape with the Dark Lord the year before and knew they needed somewhere safe to hide until they could do the ritual to return Voldemort to a body. He personally despised Lucius Malfoy as the man reminded him too much of his own father so selected to take him to Alecto and Amycus Carrow.

The Carrow twins were all but drooling over the idea of helping to return their master to greatness. They decided to do the ritual as quickly as possible since the golem he was inhabiting was disintegrating quickly.

For the enemy they decided to use Karkaroff whom they tracked down. They decided that as a traitor he was their enemy and it would be symbolic to use him to show others the error of his ways. Or that was the justification they used when they tried and failed to find Harry Potter yet again.

As summer began Narcissa Malfoy knew she needed to act. While she fully supported the Dark Lord and wanted her son to take the mark she knew he wasn't ready yet.

Both she and Lucius had spoiled the boy outrageously she could admit and were generally too busy with their own lives to waste time addressing his poor behaviour. The end result was that Draco was still extremely childish. She knew that if the Dark Lord met him now Draco would never be awarded the mark, if he wasn't killed outright. Their Lord would never tolerate Draco’s attitude.

In recent years he had gotten better but she still didn’t trust Draco to be able to hold his tongue. But thankfully she had learned that one of his classmates was a distant cousin and she figured she could use that. She ordered Draco to write to the boy and request to stay over with his family. Officially he was to say it was to get to know each other better but she would inform the Dark Lord she had requested Draco to recruit the boy since he had special skills that would be beneficial to their cause.

Draco did contact Connor, but he didn’t lie. He told Connor that the Dark Lord was back and that he was scared and really didn’t want to be forced to join the insane mans cause. Connor turned around and told Sirius what was going on and Sirius quickly made arrangements.

Connor did kind of like Draco, they weren’t best friends but they weren’t adversaries like Draco and Ron Weasley were, but he also didn’t fully trust the boy to be able to keep his secrets. If Voldemort really was back then having Draco meet his family would endanger the wolf pack since the man would want them to rejoin him. And they also wanted to be very careful about Connor’s birth name now more than ever.

To protect Draco, and Connor’s identity, Sirius arranged for Draco to leave the country for the summer. He would be spending the first three weeks with Great Aunt Cassiopeia who lived in France. Cassiopeia was well known around the world for her little black books that had blackmail material on pretty much anyone in a powerful position. Sirius figured Cassiopeia would be able to help Draco understand what being a member of the Black family truly meant since Narcissa clearly hadn’t bothered.

For the rest of the summer Draco would stay with Lucretia Black who was his third cousin twice removed. Lucretia was a historian and archeologist that spent her life travelling the world and discovering magical sites. Connor had spent 2 weeks with her when he was 9 and she had taken him on a trek to visit Shangri-La. That summer she was planning an expedition to Paititi. Paititi was one of the fabled cities of gold, this one was of Inca origin and was east of the Andes hidden in the rainforest in southeast Peru.

It was going to be a learning experience for Draco who had never had to ‘rough it’ a day in his life.

That summer Connor made a decision, he was going to let someone else in on his secret.

Neville often visited the pack with his parents now that they were free of the hospital. Neville was his best friend and Connor trusted him.

But it was more than that. Over the years Dumbldore had been becoming more and more desperate. All he had managed to achieve was to force the goblins to acknowledge that the Potter Heir had accessed his vault to prove he was still alive and knew of his position.

The man couldn’t create a fake Harry to take the real Harry’s place since there was a chance the real one or the goblins would out that plot. But that meant he needed a saviour for the people to rally behind, and he had selected Neville for that role since he also fit some of the parameters of the prophecy.

In the past year he had been putting pressure on Neville and his parents about getting him into training. The two youngest Weasley’s and Granger had also been trying to make friends, although they were all terrible at it. Ron just talked over Neville and tried to drag him around. Hermione berated him about having to study more and how he needed to take her advice on school work even though he was ranked higher than her because she was still refusing to abide by length limits. And Ginny just threw herself at him and tried to get him into bed even though everyone knew he was dating Cedric.

Connor had seen how stressed and worried Neville had been becoming. He felt that if Neville knew the truth it would take away some of the burden the Headmaster had been heaping on the boy about him having to fill the space left by Harry Potter.

Neville had taken the information that his best friend was actually his god brother rather well. He understood why Connor had kept it secret and didn’t blame him for taking so long to tell him.

Connor also paid a visit to Gringotts. When he had been a child and taken his inheritance test he had seen that he was the Slytherin Heir by right of conquest. He was worried about what would happen if Voldemort found out since the Lord of a family had a great deal of control over an Heir. When he explained his worries to the goblins they easily calmed him. According to their tests Voldemort was no longer eligible to take the Lordship. They had looked into it and found the ritual he had used to reconstitute his body had not included anything from his mother, and since she was the Slytherin by blood, he no longer had Slytherin blood even though he did have Slytherin magic. They suggested that when he turned 17 he take up the title and demand the return of the family magic since the man was no longer blood related. It wouldn’t kill him outright since he still had his own magic, but it would greatly weaken him.

Connor also had a great deal of fun going to the twins newly opened shop. Weasley’s Wizards Wheezes had opened with a bang just a few days before Connor’s birthday and it was as amazing as he had known it was going to be.

The twins did have a few issues since their mum wanted them to get what she termed ‘respectable’ jobs, but they were used to her lectures and ‘disappointed’ stare so it didn’t bother them. They also knew she and their father were concerned about where they got the money but they just told them they had a private financial backer that funded them, although they did have to assure them that the backer was in no way connected to the Death Eaters or You-Know-Who.

Between friends, family, and homework the summer passed quickly.

* * *

Connor’s sixth year was once again a calm one for the most part.

In the school the students were safe. Three separate aurors were tasked with teaching the students that year as no new professor could be found that met Dumbledore’s requirements and the Ministry was still trying to recover from the Umbridge scandal.

The staff was more on edge but did their best to hide it from the students. But many of the students realized what was going on just from how their parents and families had been acting. Everyone could feel the war coming.

But the Headmaster wasn't focused mainly on the war or figuring out the best way to stop Voldemort from gaining any more strength or followers. Instead he was still nearly completely focused on finding Harry Potter. The man was doing tracking rituals every month.

It had been shortly after the press had reported a mass break out from Azkaban that Severus had pointed out the simple fact that Albus was overlooking.

Albus, Severus, Alastor Moody (the real one), and Minerva had all been present to help preform yet another tracking ritual. This one just made a hanging crystal point in the general direction of the one being tracked. It wasn't a very accurate way to track anyone as it lost its effectiveness the closer one got to the person they were tracking.

When the ritual finished the crystal hung, point down, just as it had done every other time Albus had done it. Severus pointed out that it might not be pulling in a direction because Potter was already to close to it for it to be effective. The crystal was pointing down, towards the school in general. He then went on to point out that if Harry Potter had been blood adopted into the right family the magic could make him look completely different than everyone was expecting.

Once they figured that out Albus became focused on finding the adoption paperwork. All blood adoptions were required to be registered with the Ministry and the Ministry potions masters were the only ones authorized to brew the potion so they would know if anyone was planning to do it anyways. But the people Albus sent to find the record kept coming back empty handed.

As Albus was obsessing about locating Harry Potter so was Voldemort. Since Albus was so distracted Voldemort was able to break into the ministry and gain access to the prophecy orb. Hearing that Harry Potter was his equal and could still be the one to defeat him caused the already unstable man to become even more obsessed than he had been all those years ago.

Albus had given permission for Severus to explain to Voldemort about their theory of Harry’s adoption, much to the dark clad mans disgust. He figured that having more people looking for the boy would only benefit him. He was sure that if Voldemort located him first then he would easily be able to get the boy first using his spy.

Severus couldn’t determine just which of the two was crazier. It was all pointless in the end. By the next July Potter’s spawn would be 17. Once the boy came of age he would be able to become a Lord and take up his seats on the Wizengamot, as a Lord the Wizengamot could easily just require/demand he present himself before them. So far the only reason they hadn’t been able to force him to do so was because he was under age and their were laws that protected him, those laws would be gone once he was of age.

Remus and Sirius worked with Dumbledore and the Order, but they made sure everyone knew they would not be joining. They believed in stopping Voldemort, but they didn’t think the Order was the answer. They also had young children that required their attention.

Their biggest worry was Connor. They had done everything they could to make sure he had as normal a life as possible and they liked to think they had succeeded. The only thing that really kept Connor’s life from being normal was the way he naturally drew people in and made most of them like him. Connor had a tendency to always be in the right place at the right time. It really kept their lives interesting.

Soon enough people were going to learn who their boy was and they were worried. They were just grateful he would have the support of his boyfriends and best friend since they all already knew who he was.

Their main concern was how Albus and those in his precious Order were going to react. They had heard more than a few of them waxing poetic about how they would train Harry Potter and he would defeat Voldemort, saving them all. And then there were those like Molly who was sure he would fall head-over-heals in love with her daughter and marry shortly after she graduated, the woman was even already thinking about baby names.

Sirius and Remus knew there was no way that was going to happen. They didn’t want their boy involved in the war anymore than he had to be. They just hoped stripping Voldemort of his Slytherin family magic would weaken him enough to put him down quickly, and they were going to certainly make sure he wasn't alone when that happened.

* * *

Connor was rather surprised at how quickly his sixth year passed. Soon enough the school year was ending yet again.

In recent years many had been forced to notice that the idea that Hufflepuffs were useless was wrong, but many hadn’t. Connor figured that was why he had never come under suspicion by the Headmaster or anyone else for being Harry Potter. They saw the Hufflepuff emblem and immediately dismissed him. It was slightly funny since he really didn’t look that different than what people had believed Harry Potter would but he was just different enough they never noticed.

He knew that on his birthday he would be forced out in the open. If he didn’t show up the Ministry would be able to lay claim to his inheritance and Connor didn’t want to lose everything his family had spent generations building.

But before he did that he decided there were a few more people he needed to talk to. The first one was Cedric.

After graduating from Hogwarts Cedric had started to train as a healer. Thanks to Ministry restrictions full-time apprenticeships were almost non-existent, even for a Triwizard champion. Because of that Cedric was only able to get a part-time apprenticeship, meaning he only got to spend about 20 hours a week learning at the hospital. He had decided to follow in Ava’s footsteps and spent time at the packs clinic. It allowed him to learn from Ava since she had a more extensive repertoire of spells and potions due to her international education.

Because of all the time he spent with Ava it was easy to track him down. When Connor had asked him to meet privately in such a serious manor Cedric had been worried, then he had been startled.

Hearing that a friend was actually a supposedly missing hero was odd, but it didn’t change anything for Cedric. Like the twins and Neville, Connor was still Connor to him, and nothing was going to change that.

After telling Cedric he wrote a letter to Draco. Once again Draco was spending his summer with Lucretia Black, this time going to Nysa, the valley of nymphs. This time it hadn’t been Narcissa’s idea. Now that Draco was of age she and Lucius had wanted him to take the mark but Draco had managed to put it off with the assistance of Cassiopeia and Lucretia. Voldemort was aware of both women and even he wasn't crazy enough to go up against them.

Connor didn’t see any benefit to destroying his amicable relationship with the blond Slytherin, which he knew would happen if he didn’t act. If Draco found out he was Harry Potter from someone else the boy would take it as a direct insult. But, if Connor sent the letter informing Draco himself prior to the announcement the boy would see it as him getting the best information first even if the letter arrived later. The letter Connor sent wouldn’t reach Draco until around the time Connor knew he was going to be arriving at the Wizengamot but it would soothe any ruffled feathers the boy might have.

And once the letter was written and sent Connor went to meet with the last person he wanted to know before everyone else learned. He had requested his head of house, Professor Sprout, come to tea. As soon as people learned the truth he knew he was going to have to deal with a lot of issues.

As a seventh year he would have much more freedom than he had before. Seventh years were all of age so they had the latest curfew, they had to be back in their common rooms by 11, in their dorms by 12, and have their lights out by 1. They were also allowed to leave school grounds after classes, and on weekends so long as they were passing all of their classes. If they were above an EE average there were no restrictions, but if they were at an A or below then only on the weekends.

Connor knew once the Headmaster knew he was going to go out of his way to keep him close, he had seen how the man had been with Neville once he had started giving up on finding him. Having Professor Sprout to act as a buffer could only help.

And then there was how the other students were going to react. He had heard for years that some of the Gryffindors often mentioned Harry Potter and there were more than a few girls going on about how they wanted to be Lady Potter, as if that would ever happen. Connor had the twins, and they were exactly what he wanted.

The meeting with Professor Sprout went well. She was fully understanding and fully supportive. Before leaving she assured him that he could come to her for anything, not that he hadn’t already known that given his previous 6 years experience. She also told him that she had overheard the Headmaster making plans about who he wanted to be at the Wizengamot meeting so he could surround Harry Potter with them. Connor thanked the woman for everything.

On the day of his 17th birthday Connor met his account manager at the bank and they flooed to the Ministry together. They came out in a private room off to the side of the Wizengamot chamber that was used exclusively for when there was bank business in front of them. It ensured he was able to get into the Ministry without issue, not that it would matter soon since everyone would learn who he was, but for Connor every moment was a blessing.

He had also spoken with the goblins and they had agreed to escort him out the same way once the meeting was finished. He would also be able to use one of the banks private floos to return home so he wouldn’t even have to set foot in public for just that little bit longer. Soon enough he was going to be inundated with letters, thankfully he had been able to have a redirect added to himself, any mail sent to him would go to the Potter house elves unless he had specifically exempted the sender from the spell. The elves were to first ensure the mail had not been hexed or cursed, then they would check it over and sort it based on what the sender wanted, if it was threatening it would then be turned over to the DMLE.

When they arrived the goblins went in first leaving him in the magically secured room. They were still hoping that they would be able to find a way out of having to give Connor’s name, not that they really believed it would work, but they were still going to try.

In the Wizengamot chambers the goblins did what they could, but legally they really couldn’t stop the Ministry. As one of the goblins went to retrieve their client the others informed those present, which included an overflowing public gallery and press section, that Harry Potter had been adopted and given a new name.

Just as Connor walked into the chamber the goblins introduced him, providing a blood identity test proving that he was Harry Potter prior to his name change. As that was done the chamber was filled with people and press all shouting out questions that echoed off the stone walls so much it was all a completely incomprehensible mess, the chamber was also filled with the flashes from dozens of cameras. Connor didn’t acknowledge any of it as he walked over to the goblins that had been representing him and thanked them.

Once he had politely addressed the goblins Connor turned and surveyed all the staring witches and wizards in the chamber. It was funny to see the looks many of those who knew him as Connor were wearing, not that he showed that amusement. Giving a polite bow he firmly stated he was there to claim his seats. And that really was all he was there for although he knew he wasn't going to be able to get out of there without being interrogated.

As Connor had expected what was supposed to just be a meeting about claiming his seats and proving he was indeed alive devolved into a full scale interrogation. Connor did his best to remain calm, but he could admit that he got a bit snappish when some idiot had the gall to say that by changing his name he was rejecting and dishonouring his parents. He pointed out in turn that from all he had been told about his parents they would love him no matter what and the only true way to dishonour their sacrifice would be to waste his life as nothing more than an ignorant puppet. By changing his name he was able to live his own life and grow into his own man without everyone else’s preconceived ideas of what they wanted him to be.

He also made sure to bring up the fact that his parents wills were sealed so he didn’t know what his parents would want from him and that the Ministry had made sure of that. But through it all he made sure not to b outright aggressive or antagonistic, he was already going to have to deal with a lot of attention, he didn’t want to have to deal with everyone thinking he was a bastard too.

After half an hour of back and forth with those in the chamber Connor made his excuses to leave with the goblins. Just to rub a little salt in the wound he said he had an appointment at the bank to make arrangements for his parents wills to finally be read once the seal was finally released in November. There were plenty of more questions shouted at him as he was guided out by the goblins but he didn’t acknowledge them.

Connor let out a sigh of relief as he flooed away, although he knew his temporary reprieve wasn't going to last long.

Albus had no idea how to appropriately process what he had just learned.

A Hufflepuff. The hero of the wizarding world was a Hufflepuff!?

The boy should have been a Gryffindor. He would settle for a Ravenclaw. He could have even found a way to use a Slytherin to his benefit, the boy did need to die in the end after all. But a Hufflepuff!?

Everything was wrong. Years of planning thrown out the window because the boy wasn't good enough to get into another house.

Over the years Albus had heard mention of the boy, but he had never really paid any attention to him. He knew he was supposed to be Longbottom’s best friend, but he had only paid enough attention to tell Granger and the Weasley’s they were going to need to separate Longbottom from the boy.

Thinking back he realized the boy had been connected to plenty of things that went on at Hogwarts, from being there when Tom’s diary was found, to being the one to find Moody. It would seem the boy had found his way into Albus’s schemes, but he never responded properly. He never turned to Albus for help, instead he went to Amelia Bones more often than not.

Albus knew he needed more information so he could work out a new plan. And for that he called a meeting of the Order. Since Sirius had refused to allow them to use one of the Black properties they had been holding them at Hestia Jones’s place normally, but this time Albus had them all go to the Burrow since he wanted to be able to involve the youngest two Weasley children and Granger but knew if they were at Hestia’s place the other members would want to send them away. Having it at the Burrow would allow for them being there to seem more natural.

Everyone seemed to be as stunned as Albus as they arrived at the unique house. Thankfully he had trained them all to shut up and listen to him so as soon as he cleared his throat he had every eye focused on him. But there wasn't much he could say since he really didn’t know anything about the boy. Because of that he looked to Minerva and Severus and asked them to sum up their view on Harry. After the regular bickering they both agreed that he was an intelligent and friendly boy.

They all discussed it for a while but came to no solid conclusions on how to move forward. One thing they did settle on was that Remus and Sirius had to have known something. Remus had after all claimed to have worked as a private tutor for Harry prior to him starting Hogwarts. And if Remus knew the truth then there was no way Sirius didn’t.

Most of the primary Order members needed to return to work rather quickly, the only ones to remain were the Weasley family, Arthur and Charlie called in sick for the rest of the day while it was Bills day off, Moody, who was retired, Severus and minerva, as professors they had the summer off. Once everyone else was gone it was time for Albus to get to what he really wanted to discuss.

He started informing the younger group what they needed to do and how they needed to get close to Harry. He made sure to put specific emphasis on suggesting Ginny start a relationship with the boy, he didn’t outright say use love potions, but both she and her mother fully understood the message.

Bill and Charlie exchanged shocked looks as the planning continued, they also saw that Severus was just as surprised and disgusted as they were. Finally it was just too much and Charlie pointed out they were planning to pimp the twins boyfriend out to Ginny. Bill followed that up by pointing out that they would be effectively permanently destroying their relationship with the twins if they tried to force them to give up the boy they loved just so that Ginny could get what she wanted, yet again.

Before there could be too much arguing the floo flared green and out stepped one, and then the other, twin. Both boys pointed out they had known a meeting like this was going to take place.

Albus was frustrated. Why was everything going wrong? Ginny had been the one he had had Molly train to be the wife of Harry Potter so it was Ginny that he wanted involved with the boy. Instead the boy had started to date the twins, two boys that he had never been able to control or direct in any substantive way.

Albus tried to use the fact that Harry had been lying to the twins about who he was, but it didn’t work. Rather than being upset by the lie they informed everyone they had known the truth for years and just hadn’t bothered to tell anyone because they were supposedly honouring his wishes. Both Albus and Molly were furious to learn that the twins had known he was Harry Potter and didn’t realize they needed to know that information.

Both Molly and Arthur had liked the idea of Ginny becoming Lady Potter, they knew it had been their daughters dream, and now they had a problem. They had never really denied Ginny and she could not tolerate being told no. Even when Arthur agreed to her being punished for her actions during her first year it had only held at school, originally she was supposed to be grounded at home too but that had only lasted three days since they couldn’t put up with her tantrums anymore. They both wanted Ginny to have her dream life, but they didn’t want to have to lose their twins to make it happen, Molly in particular was trying to figure out how to get Harry to break up with the twins and get together with Ginny without causing major drama between her children.

When Ginny started to whine that Harry Potter was hers the twins had no problem telling their little sister off. They loved their family, but that didn’t mean they always liked them, especially since they opened the shop and were bombarded first with demands of where they got the money and then poorly vailed hints about how they should give other family members the money they earned.

And just to keep things interesting they pointed out that Ginny already had plenty of boys. To prove it when their mum scolded them for what they implied about Ginny the twins turned and asked Snape just how many times their little sister had gotten detention the year before for being caught less than dressed with boys in broom closets by him. Snape took great joy in telling everyone that the number was in the double digits, and there were at least half dozen different boys involved before turning to ask Minerva if she knew of any others since she had been the one who had removed or lessened the girls detentions each time it happened. Arthur was horrified at his daughters behaviour while Molly was too, but it was mainly because she thought Ginny was smart enough to be discreet in her dalliances, after all, a girl deserved her fun before she settled down and married a boy like Harry Potter.

No matter what anyone else said the twins would never give up Connor.

For Connor much of the rest of the summer was annoying. Even with the house elves dealing with a majority of the mail he still had to deal with dozens of letters each day. Most of the letters that he didn’t bother with were just sycophantic ramblings about how amazing the writers thought he was while trying to convince him to meet with them. There were, of course, a few that were threats or had been cursed and those did indeed go to the DMLE, last Connor had heard over a dozen people had been arrested.

But the thing that really annoyed Connor about all the letters… they all addressed him as Harry Potter. He had made himself perfectly clear while at the Ministry that he had changed his name. He was Connor, and he had no intention to answer to anything else.

As summer was coming to an end Connor was approached by Amelia Bones. There were plenty of rumours going around. There had been a few attacks recently and people were starting to agree with Dumbledore that there was a chance You-Know-Who was back. And that was going to have a major impact on him in her opinion. Even many of the aurors were suggesting that they leave it up to him since he had defeated the man last time.

Given that information Connor wasn't exactly filled with confidence in those who were working as aurors. He ended up just explaining what he had done about magically disowning the man and the effect the goblins believed that would have on his magic.

The goblins had said that by disowning him magically it would strip him of all family magics. But that wasn't where it ended, any and all magics he had done using family magic would begin to unravel, family magic served as a support and boost to a witches or wizards own personal magic so anything higher level would have relied on it. The family magic would fade away so anything Voldemort had done using family magic would fade away, and they believed it would include whatever had been used to keep his soul from passing over, it also included anything he had used parselmagic on.

Connor had no intention of risking his life for people too cowardly to even try to defend themselves. If he was targeted he would respond in kind, but he wasn't going to go out and look for a fight.

Amelia was slightly startled by that information. She knew she was going to have to talk with the Unspeakables about it. When she had gotten the diary all those years ago she had tried to consult with them about the diary and instead they had taken it claiming it fell under their purview, which really was anything they wanted. She thought they would most likely have the best information on what the effect a magical disownment would have on You-Know-Who.

* * *

As September arrived Connor found himself less than excited to attend his final year of school. Really since the twins and Cedric graduated school had been a bit less fun, but this year looked to be the worst. He still had his other friends of course, but he still missed having his boyfriends around. He and Neville had kept the pranking tradition going but it just wasn't the same without the antics of the twins in Connors opinion.

But Connors biggest issue was going to be having to deal with everyone knowing his past now. Even just walking onto the platform with his family he noticed how the noise level dropped off and could feel as people watched him.

Connor chose to just try and ignore everyone else for as long as he could. After saying his goodbyes he and Neville got on the train and went to their regular compartment. The only time either of them would normally have to leave the compartment was when Neville had to attend the prefects meeting.

Neville had been made a prefect in his fifth year although he had confided in Connor that he thought Dumbledore had had him given the badge in order to get closer to him. Dumbledore had often dropped in on meetings, something the upper years had said had never happened before. He had also put pressure on the head boy and girl who were responsible for assigning the rounds schedule to partner Neville up with Hermione and Ron who were Gryffindor prefects even though they usually worked in pairs with their counterpart in their own house.

Professor Sprout had personally dropped off Connors letter that year to explain that he was being offered the position of head boy at Dumbledore’s insistence. She knew he wouldn’t like the favouritism so had come to address it with him personally. Connor was grateful that she was honouring his request to act as a buffer and kindly refused the badge as he felt it just wasn't right to take it and didn’t want to let Dumbledore try to make him feel like he owed him. He had no intention of allowing himself to be manipulated like that, Siri and Remy had warned him the old man had done the same thing with his dad while he was at school.

It also helped that Connor really didn’t want to have to deal with who he knew was going to be head girl. Granger and Weasley had been selected as prefects for Gryffindor and Sprout had warned him Granger was going to be head girl, he could hear the clear dissatisfaction in her voice although she tried to hide it. Connor didn’t really have anything against the girl, but he really couldn’t stand being around her. Granger was very conceited and acted like she was better than everyone else and was always trying to take control of things.

Connor just hoped that Weasley wouldn’t be given the position since he refused. Everyone had been surprised Weasley had even been given a prefects badge in the first place given how long his disciplinary record was, along with his lower grades. Weasley had never tried to hide that he was a bigot and resorted to cursing most people who didn’t agree with him when he couldn’t defend his position. There had been plenty of gossip in previous years that the only reason the two Gryffindors had been allowed to keep their badges was because the Headmaster always blocked anyone that tried to have them stripped of their position for their behaviour and attitudes.

When Neville returned from the prefects meeting he was frustrated when he confirmed Granger was indeed head girl. But he did think it was going to be funny to watch her try and work with the head boy. He didn’t know how it happened but somehow Draco Malfoy had ended up being head boy, Connor was surprised since pretty much everyone knew how biased the headmaster was against Slytherins, there hadn’t been a Slytherin head boy or girl in over 15 years.

Connor warded the compartment door after over a dozen people barged in to just stare at him. He had known to expect it, but he had hoped his classmates would have at least basic dignity. He specifically made the ward intent based, anyone who was thinking about Harry Potter or fame wouldn’t be able to see the door. Connor didn’t know just how lucky he was as the two youngest Weasley’s and Granger were a car away systematically searching for him to insinuate themselves into his life.

The only time Connor left the car was to attend a little lunch with a man named Horace Slughorn. Professor Sprout had warned him about the new/old professor. According to her Dumbledore had arranged for the man to return as potions master and had Snape moved over to DADA. But she had also warned him that Slughorn liked to ‘collect’ famous and influential students.

At the meal Connor was polite, but he was sure to make sure everyone knew he was Connor Caliban. It took a bit but eventually even Slughorn started using his right name, although Connor knew it was most likely just a way to try and persuade him to like him. In all the luck was a little annoying since he knew he was only there because of his fame, but it also served as a decent distraction to pass the time faster. Plus the food was much better than the regular sweets that were available.

By half way through September Conner was ready to just call it quits. Some of those who he had been friendly with for years managed to absorb the information about his past rather easily and didn’t really let it effect their relationships. Some became slightly awed, but it was obviously just instinct that came from growing up hearing those nonsense stories, even after everyone learned the truth about his disappearance the people behind the fictional Harry Potter adventure series kept putting out new books. But that awe mostly went away as they realized he was still the same person he had been before.

The problem was everyone else. All of a sudden he was the most interesting student in the school. Everything he did was gossiped about, even if it was just about what he had chosen to eat for breakfast that day. He was constantly being followed, usually by entire groups.

And he didn’t even want to think about the girls. What was wrong with people, everyone had known for years he was seeing the twins, did they really think he would leave people that loved him for him for some shallow little fame whore? He had been asked out by a dozen different girls and 4 boys within the first week of school. At first he had been polite when he said no, but after that first week he stopped that and was blunt as he told them just how not interested in them he was.

Not even the teachers were immune from the reactions, although they were thankfully better at treating him normally, for the most part. Flitwick had tried to be normal with him but the mans already squeaky voice went up a few octaves whenever he spoke to him the first few weeks. Snape seemed to be at war with himself whenever he was around Connor, although he had known that was coming given what Siri and Remy had told him about how things had been between his parents and the man. Hagrid managed to babble even more than usual in his class, but Connor knew the loveable man meant nothing by it.

The biggest change was in McGonagall and the Headmaster himself. McGonagall had never really seemed to have any strong opinions about him before. He had always done quite well in her class so she had never had a problem with him but she had also never gone out of her way to pay attention to him at all. Hufflepuff’s had most of their classes with the Ravenclaws so it wasn't like he had to compete with her lions which everyone knew she favoured, Granger and Weasley in particular. But she did pay more attention to her favourites, and they tended to be from wealthy or important families like Bones, Macmillan, Smith, and of course Neville, from Hufflepuff and Corner, Goldstein, and Li. When he went into her NEWT class, where all four houses were combined, not only did she focus on the original seven that all came from well known families but all her Gryffindors as well.

But now he couldn’t go a single class with her without her turning her attention to him. He figured had earned more points in her class in a month than he had in the previous six years. It also didn’t help that she kept making him pair up with Granger or Weasley, or both.

The Headmaster for his part was always there. Normally the man was only seen at meals, but now he was spotted wandering the halls around whichever class Connor had. Most of the time Connor was cornered by the man he never said anything worth saying at all, he just smiled and played the role of wise old grandfather all while completely ignoring anything Connor said.

It was when he called Connor up to his office that Dumbledore got to his real message. He wanted Connor to start training with him and members of his Order to learn how to defeat Voldemort. Thankfully Sprout always made sure to go to the meetings with him and that woman was nothing if not protective of her students. When he tried to make Connor remain at the school at all times rather than going to visit his family and the twins in the afternoons and on weekends Sprout had immediately told him off for trying to confine one of her students. As a seventh year that was passing all his classes he had the right to leave as he chose.

Dumbledore also was going out of his way to try and encourage Connor to spend time with Granger and the Weasley’s. It was becoming like a game of hide and seek, Connor was just glad he had the map so he could make sure to avoid them as much as possible. He knew they had been tasked to get close to him but he didn’t really understand the reasoning behind it. He wasn't acting any differently than he had in years passed, it wasn't like he was planning to suddenly join the man that killed his parents. if anything trying to force him to be friends with the three Gryffindors really just made him dislike their side more since the three were actually rather bigoted.

To Connor what Dumbledore was doing didn’t make any sense. The man obviously wanted to use him, but he really wasn't doing anything that would entice him to cooperate. The man seemed to think he was going to suddenly become some meek little thing that didn’t know how to stand up for himself. And that may have been true when he was little and living with the Dursley’s, but he had had a decade to learn to be confident in himself thanks to his family, and he had no intention of going back.

Connor just did his best to push through all the noise and live his life as normally as possible.

On a calm afternoon during the Yule holidays Connor was visiting the twins with Raven. The toddler took after Sirius a great deal and she absolutely adored pranks and laughter while Hunter was more reserved and watchful like Remus.

Connor was bouncing a giggling Raven on his hip while the twins entertained her with some of their more toddler friendly creations in the upstairs apartment when the floo flared green and Dumbledore and two female aurors that Connor didn’t know came through. The women were introduced as senior auror Hestia Jones and junior auror Nymphadora Tonks.

Connor, with Raven still bundled tightly in his arms, was pressured to leave with them. Both women were in their full uniforms in an effort to enhance their credibility. Dumbledore was acting all self assured as he issued instructions.

Connor didn’t really know what to do. He knew the Headmaster had no control over him during the summer, but the two women were aurors. He didn’t know if they were on duty or if they had any legal standing to detain him. And there was also the fact that he had Raven, he couldn’t let anything happen to her.

The twins seemed to realize the same things at the same time. The only way to ensure that nothing bad or dangerous happened around Raven was if they went with them. They might not like the high handed and borderline threatening tactics but they knew they wouldn’t be hurt, or at least, they hoped.

Connor agreed to go with them but made sure they knew he wasn't impressed with their actions and behaviour. Fred and George said that they were going with them too and got Tonks to admit that they were actually just going to the Burrow. George made an excuse and quickly slipped into the kitchen for a moment, once there he quickly sent his partronus to Sirius to warn him what was happening and where Connor and Raven were. They knew the man would be there rather quickly, Fenrir wouldn’t be able to join, but more than likely Remus would come as well and he and Sirius would not hold back in addressing the effective kidnapping of their daughter and adopted son.

Once that was done they followed the Headmaster through the floo with Tonks and Jones going after them.

The scene at the Burrow was honestly laughable.

As soon as everyone arrived Connor was almost immediately bombarded with people that pretended they knew him while calling him Harry. There were also plenty of questions about Raven and who she was. Mrs. Weasley even actually tried to take her out of Connors arms but Raven burrowed into her brothers arms and held on tight, and started crying whenever anyone got near them. Only Connor and the twins were capable of calming her.

And then once Connor had managed to calm Raven everyone started making their demands while very poorly trying to make Connor think it was either his idea or that he owed them. And through it all Ginny Weasley was fluttering her eyelashes and trying to flirt from a distance since Raven clearly didn’t like her.

Thankfully Sirius and Remus arrived rather quickly all but breathing fire like enraged mother dragons. Both were righteously furious about what was going on and didn’t hold back from telling everyone involved off.

Albus tried to placate them by pointing out they were only trying to stop the war but it didn’t soothe any feathers, especially since there hadn’t been any major attacks. Voldemort’s return had been made public after the theft of the prophecy from the Ministry but so far there had only been a few small issues that had been handled by the aurors.

And that was the reasoning that Connor fell back on. He explained that Madame Bones had already been in contact with him and that if any of the aurors in the room felt they needed any more information they could speak with her. That made Jones, Tonks, and Kingsley Shacklebolt nervous as they knew their boss would not be happy about their involvement with the Order.

Connor explained what he had done on his birthday just to try and settle everyone. To prove his point he questioned Snape about his mark. The man confirmed that the Death Eaters marks had all been starting to fade slowly and that they were all feeling less pain when anyone said the Dark Lords name around them. He also mentioned that the Dark Lords punishments were getting weaker and that his stamina was greatly reduced.

Most found the information calming, but Dumbledore had his more fanatical followers just weren’t willing to listen to reason. They just kept going back to the idea that it had to be Connor that stopped him, although they just kept referring to him as Harry.

Dumbledore started going on about how he needed lessons and there was much he didn’t know and needed to learn. That pushed Sirius past his limits and he passed Remus their daughter before turning on the old man and telling him off yet again, this time about how he, and everyone else involved in the ambush, how disrespectful and insulting they were being. Connor was a human being, not a toy or pawn they could use as they chose.

With that said, plus a few minor insinuated threats should they ever pull a stunt like that again, Sirius and Remus escorted Connor and the twins out of the Burrow to take Raven home for her nap.

The second half of the year was slightly better than the first as those in the Order began to realize Connor wasn't their super powered hero, but not everyone got the message. Unfortunately those in the school were amongst those that just weren’t getting it.

Dumbledore kept trying to pull Connor up into his office for his supposed lessons. Granger and Weasley were still following him around and pretending to be his friends on occasion, but that decreased greatly as exams got closer and Granger started losing her grip on reality like she always did with tests. Granger did try and force him to abide by a study schedule she made for him but he just ignored her. The male Weasley liked to pretend they were friends but he actually didn’t like Connor all that much since he considered him pathetic since he was a Hufflepuff so once Granger was distracted he went back to focusing on things like quidditch, despite their team being at the bottom of the year rankings.

The female Weasley was the opposite of her brother, she liked him way too much, despite the fact that they really didn’t know each other at all. Connor couldn’t count the number of times he had rejected the girl, he had to remind her on a near daily basis that he was dating her elder brothers.

McGonagall was just oh so much fun to deal with too. The woman was always frosty and stern with anyone she felt didn’t respect the headmaster enough, but that was nothing in comparison to the arctic chill Connor got every time he entered her class. Not that Connor cared, no matter how strict she acted he actually preferred it to her false kindness.

Snape was the only one that really didn’t change his attitude to Connor. Snape had never wanted to be a teacher in the first place so he wasn't overly involved in his students lives. If anything he just hoped that whatever Connor had done to the Dark Lord hurried up so he could be free. Once the dark mark was gone, so was he. Severus had already been in contact with a few other masters of defence and potions about research positions that would ensure he never had to deal with another idiot child again.

Connor just couldn’t wait for the year to finally end. While he had enjoyed his time at Hogwarts, he was ready to move on. His favourite class was ancient runes and Connor had plans to work on his mastery in the subject once he graduated. But more importantly he wanted to get on with his life with the twins.

It was just as the students were enjoying an afternoon in Hogsmeade after the exams finished that things came full circle. Voldemort arrived to attack him.

What followed really couldn’t be considered a fight.

There had been those who had expected the crazy man to pull a move like that as his sanity was degrading even faster than his magic, not that he had had much of any sanity to begin with. Amongst those that had had their suspicions was both Amelia and Fenrir.

Amelia had a team of aurors stationed around the small village, although she made sure none of them were associated with Dumbledores little vigilante group since she didn’t want him informed before they even arrived. If he thought she didn’t know about how he had gotten to a few of her people then the man was an idiot.

Fenrir had worked with Voldy during the previous war so he knew how he operated, and he knew the man was going to be looking to make a big show out of attacking his cub to try and cover up for his fading strength. Connor was a member of his pack, had been since the night in the woods all those years ago. And not only was Connor pack, but he owed him a great deal. Without Connor in his life he might never have been able to get Remus to listen to him which meant he wouldn’t have Remus or Sirius in his life, and he most certainly wouldn’t have his children either. But all that mattered in that moment was protecting his cub, and he had brought a few of his enforcers to assist.

Connor was surprised as Voldemort announced his presence. Not because he hadn’t been expecting to be targeted at some point but because the snake faced creature fell into the same trap as muggle movie villains, the man started to monologue about how things had come to that point and how Connor would be joining his parents soon.

Connor didn’t waste his time waiting for the man to finish his little speech and just disarmed him with a basic Expelliarmus. As Voldemort was looking at his empty hand someone tapped him on the shoulder. Turning to tell whoever it was off for daring to touch him Voldemort was knocked out cold by a right hook from Fenrir Greyback.

The other death eaters went to attack to defend their master but were quickly subdued by the other werewolves and aurors that worked together for the first time in ever. A benefit of being a werewolf was that they could smell anger and ill intent so had easily been able to pick out those there to cause problems.

Like Fenrir Amelia saw her opportunity and took it. She had Voldemort in magic suppressing cuffs in moments. From there it was easy to transport him to the ministry’s holding cells along with his followers that were present.

With the danger gone most of the students just went back to enjoying their sunny afternoon.

Unfortunately for Voldemort the last of his family magics faded away as he was trapped in his holding cell while he waited for his trial. Not that he would ever see trial.

A few of his loyal people tried to break him out of custody, but that just resulted in an all out fight with the aurors. It honestly wasn't exactly a bright idea to try and get him out of a holding cell right in the middle of the main DMLE office.

There were more than a few injuries that day, but the only fatality was Voldemort himself. It would seem without the Slytherin family magic Tom’s magic levels were almost the same as his mothers. The big bad Lord Voldemort was barely above a squib.

And he didn’t stand a chance against fully trained aurors without magic. A simple blasting hex threw him into a wall where he cracked his skull. The man was dead before the debris settled.

With the threat of Voldemort gone Connor got on with his life, not that he had been putting it off in the first place.

It took a bit of convincing, but Connor got the twins to agree to move into a nice home that had plenty of room for them. They had wanted to stay close to the shop but had agreed to a proper home when Connor pointed out the benefit of ones own space and not having to worry about being walked in on. The downside of the apartment above the shop was sometimes people just walked up and got quite an eyeful. Sirius always liked to tease them about the whipped cream incident.

The wizarding world had a strong reaction to the fact Voldemort was taken out by being punched by a werewolf. When Albus had lost control of Connor seats he hadn’t been able to pass any laws that restricted werewolves anymore. The wolves had faded from the average peoples attention and oddly enough those few years of quiet allowed people to move on from their bigotry, not completely, but at least partially.

Werewolves suddenly found themselves tolerated, if not outright liked. When some brought up Fenrir’s past he proved that he had signed permission from the parents of all children he turned as well as the adults. The reasoning behind why some agreed to the change was explained and there were more than a few people interested.

Laws were put in place to limit who was turned and when. In the case of children it was only allowed in the event of a medical emergency where there were no better options. It was more open for adults, but there were still legal hurdles. They wanted to make sure that it wasn't just a spur of the moment decision and the people actually knew what they were getting into.

And as the laws in regards to werewolves changed so did the ones for other creatures. The wizarding world was surprisingly becoming more tolerant without even realizing it.

Albus Dumbledore still liked to cause his problems, but his influence was restricted. When Dumbledore had arrived at the Ministry the day after Voldemorts death to announce the man still wasn't dead Amelia dragged him into her office. What followed was a 4 hour interrogation where Amelia forced the old man to admit to the existence of horcruxes. Amelia contacted the DOM and they told her the knew but Voldemort being stripped of his family magic would have caused the magic in the horcruxes to die too.

When Albus kept pushing Amelia warned him that if he didn’t stop terrorizing people she would have him subjected to a full mental health review. And only a few years later that was what she did when the man started up again. The healers felt he was in the beginning stages of mental decline, but that he was still able to function relatively well.

Unfortunately word got out about the hospital visit and parents got worried. Dumbledore was forced to resign by the board but he was allowed to stay at Hogwarts in the role of advisor to the new Headmistress, Pomona Sprout. Minerva had been suggested first, but some of the parents brought up just how out of control her students were and how Pomona was known for actually being there for her charges.

Ginny never really got over not getting to be Lady Potter. She blamed everyone else for that fact, especially the twins, although they were proud to take the blame for it.

Ron and Hermione got married a few years after graduation. Ron had tried to become an auror but hadn’t even been considered since he didn’t have his potions NEWT. He bounced around jobs for a while before settling in as a sales clerk at Quality Quidditch.

Hermione had expected to get a high ranking position in the ministry after graduation, the Headmaster had promised it to her, but the Headmasters fall from grace had dragged her down too. No one was going to just let her take a job she wasn't qualified for. The only position she had been offered was working as an assistant in Arthurs office. Hermione expected regular promotions, but that wasn't really what she got. Instead Hermione was held to the same standards as the other workers, something she found highly insulting.

But Connor didn’t really notice or care about any of that as he was happy to have gotten to grow up with wolves.


	2. Meeting Remus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How Harry met Remus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For this story I'm just going to be writing different scenes.

Remus Lupin had had an extremely rough few years.

It had started after he graduated and the war reached its peak. They had all just been kids and they were suddenly soldiers in a war. The war had suddenly ended with the murder of one of his best friends and his wife, the only relief he felt was that their son, his cub, survived.

But then Sirius was arrested for playing a part in the murder of James and Lily, and the murder of Peter, along with a number of muggles. Even worse, Harry had disappeared and no matter what he said or did Albus wouldn’t let him know anything about his cub.

Normally the loss of a pack would mean death for a wolf, but the fact the packs cub was still alive gave him a reason to keep on living. Remus may not know much about wolves, but he knew that much.

Instead he spent his time moving from town to town under the guise of new jobs. What he was really doing was searching all those who were even slightly connected to James and Lily in an attempt to find where Albus had stashed Harry. He has started with the McDougall’s in Northern Scotland and had been working his way south for years.

* * *

That day he was in Newmarket, a small village just East of Cambridge. That town was where Caradoc Dearborn had lived. Caradoc had worked with them in the Order but had disappeared a few months before the war ended and no one knew what had happened to him.

Remus knew the chances of him being there with Harry were slim to none, but he couldn’t give up. Giving up would mean letting himself die and that meant leaving Harry completely alone. Harry deserved better.

He had just finished his shift at a local grocery store and was slowly walking around town trying to see if he could catch a scent of Harry when he did catch a scent. But it wasn't Harry he smelled.

Remus’s hackles rose and he had to force himself not to snarl in front of the few other pedestrians walking around when Fenrir Greyback stepped out from a wooded area. Remus considered turning and leaving, but he didn’t want to insight the alpha wolfs hunting instinct. As he stood still and thought he saw as Greyback reached into his jacket and pulled out a small stuffed wolf. That confused Remus for a moment, but then the wind brought the scent on the toy to him.

It was his cub. That childs toy held the scent of his lost cub. That meant Greyback had his cub.

Remus didn’t manage to fully suppress his vicious snarl causing those around him to quickly move away thinking him a crazy person. Greyback gave a wolfish grin and then turned and went back into the wooded area. Remus knew he had no choice but to follow him. He couldn’t leave his poor innocent cub in the hands of that monster, no matter the price he had to pay.

“Where is he?” Remus growled as soon as he joined Greyback in the wooded area and was covered by the privacy charms the alpha must have cast.

Fenrir examined his mate and was less than satisfied with his condition, but he knew he would fix that soon. “He is a guest of my packs. I can bring you to see him if you would like.”

Remus hated it, but he had no choice but to agree. He needed to get to Harry. Once he had Harry he would try and escape with him.

* * *

Fenrir apparated Remus directly into his office in his and Harry’s tent. As soon as they arrived he moved the final ward stone into position. He had set up all the others before he went to collect Remus. With the final stone in place the wards around the room flared up keeping Remus from being able to leave.

“What did you do?” Remus snarled as he felt the wards lock onto him. He was trapped and he knew it.

“Just making sure you didn’t do anything foolish. Like trying to steal Harry and taking him back to that disgusting excuse for a wizard called Dumbledore.” Fenrir said amicably, not reacting to the snarling. Normally he wouldn’t let anyone use such a tone on him, but this was his mate, and he also knew he wouldn’t react any better to being confined.

“Albus Dumbledore is a great man.” Remus snapped.

Fenrir snorted in derision. “Great man? That man is nothing but a user. He uses people like pawns on his chess board. He risks the lives of those who follow him like they have no meaning, taking all the credit for the work they do while making them feel guilty if his ridiculous plans don’t work and they get hurt, or worse, killed. And fools like you are actually grateful for the abuse he subjects you too because he made you feel like you owed him when you were just a kid when he recruited you as a child soldier in the war he created.”

“That isn’t true.” Remus instantly defended.

“Oh, and where was I wrong?” Fenrir asked flippantly. “After you stopped being useful to him just how much support has he given you? How much care has he shown for your life? Or the life of your cub for that matter?”

“The only threat to Harry right now is you.” Remus snapped. “Have you already turned him? He was safe and you took that from him. Albus might not have let me see him, but I know he wouldn’t have allowed any harm to come to him.”

Fenrir just went to his desk and grabbed the diagnostic sheet Ava had given him after she checked Harry over the first day and held it out. “We found Harry 5 weeks ago. This is what your precious Albus Dumbledore allowed to happen to your cub.”

Remus just meant to glance at whatever was on the parchment, but then he saw the list of injuries. He felt himself slowly sink into one of the surprisingly soft chairs in horror as he gave the list his full attention. Reading line after line of injuries his sweet cub had been subjected to over the previous years. This just couldn’t be, Dumbledore had always told him Harry was safe and loved, but this wasn't the medical chart of a safe and loved child.

“Did they suffer?” Remus asked in a low growl.

“Yes.” Fenrir assured. “Not as much as they deserved since we didn’t know the full extent of what they had done at the time, but they did suffer.”

“Is he going to be ok?” Knowing the filth that had hurt his cub had been dealt with he moved on to what truly mattered.

“In time.” Fenrir reassured his mate their cub would recover. “He is going to need help. My packs healer has already started to repair the physical damage. She said it will take a few months, possibly a year or two, but she will be able to undo what was done to him. Mentally is a whole other matter. He is a very strong young boy, but he is shy and touch starved. He has spent years being told he is unworthy and is a freak. It’s taken us this long just to get him to not collapse in a protective ball every time he hears the word magic as he was taught magic was bad and freakish and it resulted in him being beaten. We are still however working on convincing him that he doesn’t need to ‘earn’ food and a proper bed and that every child deserves them.”

Remus growled once again at that idea. “Can I see him?”

“I will go get him.” Fenrir agreed. “I told him I was going to get you today and he was excited. But you need to understand, I won’t allow you to just take him. He is staying here while under the care of my healer.”

“I understand.” Remus acknowledge grudgingly.

“Also, let him come to you. He’s still a bit edgy about being touched. He needs to be the one that initiates physical contact before you can return the affection.” Fenrir warned before he left the office. He wasn't surprised to find Harry anxiously pacing just outside the tent under the watchful eyes of Ava.

Guiding Harry into the tent Fenrir once again wasn't surprised when he became shy and all but clung to him. Harry was shy by nature, especially after spending years being taught not to trust adults. “Harry, cub. This is Remus Lupin. He’s the friend of your parents I told you has been looking for you.”

Remus couldn’t help but be surprised at Greyback’s behaviour and tone. Fenrir Greyback was a monster. He was childrens worst nightmares. And here he was kindly reassuring a child that had cost his side the war.

Seeing that he needed to reassure his cub Remus went down on his knees so he was closer to eye level with the small child. “Hello Harry. It’s so nice to see you again. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

“Did you really know my parents?” Harry asked shyly.

“Yes. Your dad, James, was one of my best friends in school. Your mum, Lily, and I were prefects together while at school too so we spent a lot of time together. If you have any questions or want to hear any stories about them than I’d be happy to tell you all about them.” Remus assured, seeing this as the best way to start to build a relationship with the little boy he had loved so dearly since the day he was born.

“Why have you been looking for me?” Harry questioned, he didn’t understand why someone would care so much for him.

“Because I love you.” Remus said simply like, it was the most obvious thing in the world, for him it was. “I have loved you since the day you were born and your parents placed you in my arms. You are my cub. Nothing is more important to me than you. Of course I would want to find you to make sure you were safe.”

Harry blinked a few times and then launched himself at the other man. Fenrir had said he was a cub. He had told him that he was loved. But this man was the first person to ever say they loved him that he could remember.

Remus buried his nose in Harry’s hair and held him tight. After a few minutes it became obvious Harry had no intention of letting go so Remus just scooped him up and settled them on the couch against the back wall with Harry in his lap, never letting up on his grip in the slightest.

“Are you planning to turn him?” Remus asked in slight worry about 10 minutes later.

“Of course not.” Fenrir assured in slight shock at the idea. “He’s just a boy.”

“Didn’t stop you with me.” Remus snarked back. He had mostly made peace with being a werewolf long ago, but he still was resentful of Fenrir.

“What did your parents tell you about why you were turned?” Fenrir asked, he was just starting to realize the Lupins more than likely lied to their son and that was why he had never responded to any of his attempts at reaching out.

“My father offended you and you attacked me in retaliation.” Remus shrugged slightly, his movements were limited by Harry who seemed to have started to fall asleep.

Fenrir sighed and rubbed his eyes before going over to his filing cabinet and starting to search. “That isn’t what happened at all. Your parents came to me and requested I turn you.”

“Why in Merlin’s name would they ever do something like that?” Remus questioned in shock.

Fenrir found the paperwork he was looking for and flipped the folder open and handed the signed forms over to Remus. “Your parents signed a magically binding contract that they agreed to have me turn you. It’s why your mother lost her magic.”

“My mum was a muggle.” Remus stated dumbly as he saw his parents signatures on the form and just stared in shock.

“No, your mother was a half-blood that was sorted into Ravenclaw. She was the guarantor for the contract so she was the one that was punished when your parents failed to live up to their end. The agreement was that I would turn you and they would allow you to spend full moons with the pack. Wolves are never meant to be alone, it drives them mad and kills them decades early.

But after I bit you your parents took you and ran. Your mother lost her magic as a result. It wasn't until years later I tracked them down and by then you were already away at school. They had only wanted you turned. Your father was an expert in lycanthropy and believed he would be able to cure you. He nearly killed you a few times as it was. I had to force him into a magically binding vow to never experiment on you again just to make sure you would survive. The vow was the only way I wouldn't have just taken you from them.”

“But…Why?” Remus questioned in a broken voice. He remembered the different potions and spells his dad used to use on him. His transformations were always worse after, not better.

“You really don’t remember do you?” Fenrir said in confusion. “They had to have altered your memory or something.

When you were 3 you got dragon pox. Normally it’s only really dangerous to the old or very young. You were just on the cusp of the safe ages and your parents had hoped you would be fine, but you weren’t. For some reason the virus attacked your organs. It happens sometimes and no one really knows why. Some get better, others don’t.

Your parents worked for months trying to find some treatment that would work, but nothing did. Shortly after your 4th birthday your father contacted me. A little known fact about lycanthropy is that the shift can actually heal old illnesses or injuries. You were in the end stages of organ failure and they convinced me to turn you. And it worked. After your first shift your organs were back to full health and you recovered, but then your parents took you and ran.

Despite all the stories those like Dumbledore and the Ministry put out I am not some monster that runs around turning children. The reason I have never been charged with any attacks is because I have had signed permission every time. I never turn someone without agreement. Normally I wait until the kids are old enough to understand what is happening even with their parents agreement, when they’re 8 or so, but you didn’t have that much time left. It was turn you then or let you die a few weeks later.

You were supposed to grow up with the pack. Being isolated as you were has no doubt done damage to your wolf. From what little information I’ve managed to gather about you your shifts are extremely painful and you have no memory of what happens during that time.” Remus nodded to him, still in shock. “That’s because of the isolation. Healthy wolves shift quick and easy, it can sting a bit, but it isn’t truly painful. We also retain full memory of everything we do. And we are rarely violent. It’s only when we are truly angered that we attack. For the most part a wolf will only hunt for food, not pleasure, that’s a human trait.

Now, we did kill the people that hurt Harry, but that was out of anger. You seem to have instinctively marked Harry as your cub when he was born and that marking was still there. If you don’t renew it in the next few months it will fade away, but as of now all wolves are able to identify him as a cub. That fat oaf had hit him and made him bleed that night. Our wolves reacted to the threat to a cub, and we may have had a little fun with him, and his wife. Then we went back and curled around him and went to sleep.”

“You were around him in wolf form?” Remus gasped in horrified confusion. When he shifted he was a raving monster that attacked anything. How could his cub not have been turned after spending a full moon around wolves?

“Yes, as I said, we remember what we do, we also have control.” Fenrir reminded. “The pack instinct demands we protect cubs. We would never attack one of our own without provocation, and never a cub. I was the one that turned you, and no matter how much you have been taught to fight it, you are still a member of this pack. And that means so is your cub. There isn’t a wolf out there that wouldn’t fight to the death to protect him. He spent the full moon last week playing tag in the meadow with the other cubs and some of the younger wolves. He really loves his cuddle piles.”

“I… I don’t understand any of this.” Remus forced out as he snuggled into his cubs sleepy embrace a little more. None of this was making any sense. Everything he’d ever been told or taught was a lie.

“And that’s ok.” Fenrir assured as he slowly moved to sit on the couch, careful not to touch Remus, not yet at least. “It’s going to take time for you to learn what you were never taught. And you are not alone in this. We offered Harry a choice, he could return to the muggle world or he could stay with us, he chose to stay. I am going to offer you that same thing. Stay here, stay with Harry, and allow us to teach you about what it truly means to be a werewolf. Or… Return back to the world that turned its back on you the moment they no longer had a use for you, but understand, Harry has chosen to stay, so he will stay.”

Remus looked from the alpha he had hated for so long and then down at his cub, there really was no choice.


End file.
